Mistakes
by SerenBex
Summary: I hate writing summaries... Jo and Hannah are back!
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: This is set a year and a half after 'Lies' and during Series 26 :)**_

* * *

"Be careful!" Hannah ordered for about the fifth time in as many minutes, drawing her oldest daughter into yet another tight hug.

As Ellie rolled her eyes and gently disentangled herself from the embrace, Hannah scooped up her youngest daughter, clamping two-year-old Caitlin tightly in place against her hip. On her other hip, she bounced Dylan, her one-year-old grandson.

"I'll be fine. What d'you think I did my training for?" She grinned and winked. "Besides, calling the Sergeant 'Mum' has to count for something, right?"

"You're joking, aren't you?" Jo asked, gulping down the last drop of her coffee and rushing around looking for her car keys. "If anything you're gonna have to work harder to prove yourself, sweetheart."

Groaning, the twenty-year-old jangled the woman's keys at her. She pressed final kisses to the foreheads of her mother, sister and son, before heading out to the waiting car. Jo rolled her eyes and copied Ellie's actions, closing the front door behind her.

Hannah moved to the living room and watched through the window as the car pulled out of the drive and disappeared down the street. Ever since Ellie had announced that she wanted to join the police force her mother had been dreading this moment; watching her head off to her first day on the beat. She had been slightly pacified when Jo had been promoted to Uniform Sergeant, but she knew the brunette too well to think she would allow her personal feelings to influence her professionally. Anyway, Ellie would never forgive either of them if she thought she was receiving preferential treatment, whatever she said.

Drawn out of her thoughts by a cry of 'Mummy!' from one side, accompanied by tugs on her sleeves and hair, Hannah turned and set both children down on the carpet. She watched for a moment as they crawled away to play with their toys before moving to the foot of the stairs to hurry the boys up in getting ready for school.

"Han?" Freya appeared on the landing, yawning broadly and running one hand through her bedhead hair. "Have they gone?"

"Yeah." Her sister nodded. "About five minutes ago."

The blonde frowned. "I wanted to wish Els luck."

"Ah, well, you unemployed young people need to get up earlier." Hannah joked. The young woman had returned from University for the summer a month before and Hannah knew that Freya was looking for a job. It had been made difficult by the fact that she was often asked to look after her nieces, nephew and great-nephew when the others were at work. "Not that I'm complaining that you're unemployed; you're a cheaper source of childcare than Jasmine. They've only got another week and a half before the summer holidays, so make the most of your freedom, sweetheart!"

"Yeah… about that…" The blonde murmured, looking uncomfortable.

Her sister groaned. "Please don't complain about helping me out. I'm not asking you to babysit 24/7… just when we really need you to."

"No, it's not that… I…"

"Good." Hannah said firmly, turning away. "What d'you want for breakfast?"

Freya mumbled something about toast, before retreating to the bathroom for a shower. She let out a long breath, wondering how she was going to break her news to her sister and the others.

x-x

"So, what's it like living with the Sarge?" Kirsty demanded as she and Ellie walked slowly along the street.

The red-head shrugged. "What's it like living with your parents?"

"Irritating."

"Well, Jo's great… she's actually proper laid back about stuff. And she's brilliant with the kids." Ellie told her casually.

"It must have been weird, though?" Kirsty pressed her. "I mean, your Mum suddenly getting into a relationship with another woman and then you deciding to join the police and her girlfriend being your Sergeant?"

"I guess… but Mum's way better with Jo. She's so much happier than she ever was with any of her boyfriends. Jo's just… good for her. They couldn't stand each other when they first met; it took Mum nearly getting her head chopped off by some nutter during a case for them to realise that they had feelings for each other."

"Romantic." The blonde laughed.

Ellie raised her eyebrows. "Tell me about it. Mum tried to be all… casual… when she told us, but we already knew; it was so obvious. Well... you've seen them around each other. They're always like that. It's adorable but sick-making at the same time." She glanced sideways. "Nah, it's not Jo I'm not looking forward to working with."

"Your Mum?" Kirsty asked. "She's a laugh."

"Yeah, but she's still my Mum. This morning she would barely let me out of the house until Jo distracted her with something shiny."

Kirsty laughed and was about to say something, when there was a crackle and then a voice over both their radios. "All units from Sierra Oscar. Disturbance reported at 42, Shipley Avenue."

Ellie glanced at her colleague. "That's just round the corner. Sierra Oscar from 298; show us dealing." She grinned. "I've been looking forward to saying that."

They made their way quickly towards the address given and found the door already open. Shouting could be heard from inside and, cautiously, the two PCs headed through the hallway, looking for the source of the sounds. Kirsty was first into the kitchen. She racked her asp at the sight of a man waving a kitchen knife wildly around at the woman who was backed against the counters.

"Put the knife down." She ordered authoritively.

He whirled round, wide-eyed, at the sound of her voice, before escaping through the French doors and over the fence at the back of the garden. As Kirsty followed him outside, Ellie moved to stand in front of the traumatised woman, rubbing her upper arms gently.

"Sierra Oscar from 363; suspect leaving 42 Shipley Avenue along Trescott Lane, armed with a kitchen knife. IC1 male, late thirties, 6 foot, dark hair dressed in jeans and a red jacket." Kirsty shouted into her radio, jumping over the fence at the bottom of the garden and chasing him along the alley. "363 pursuing on foot; 298 still at the scene."

Back in the kitchen, Ellie heard her partner's words over the radio, but didn't think about them. Instead she concentrated on guiding the shaken women into one of the chairs at the kitchen table and making her a cup of tea. When she was settled, Ellie pulled out her notebook and began to question her.

"So, can you tell me your name, love?" She asked gently.

"Alice… Alice Parker." The woman replied shakily, clutching the mug in front of her tightly. From upstairs they both heard a quiet cry and Alice's head snapped up. "My baby…"

"I'll go." Ellie offered gently, laying a hand on her shoulder and standing up.

Navigating the stairs and checking several rooms off the landing, Ellie finally opened the correct door and saw a toddler standing in his cot crying. She smiled and scooped him out, bouncing him on her hip and stroking his cheeks gently to remove the tears that had collected there. Murmuring reassuringly, she carried him back downstairs and handed him over to his mother, who kissed his head in relief.

"He's gorgeous." Ellie said with a smile. "What's his name?"

"Toby." Alice told her with a smile. "He's almost four."

"My son, Dylan, is just one." The police officer told her cheerfully, reaching out and tickling Toby's tummy.

The woman looked incredulous. "You have a son? Well, I should have guessed; he doesn't usually like strangers."

"I am surrounded by kids at home; a one-year-old son, two and five-year-old sisters and a ten-year-old brother."

"Wow…"

Ellie smiled at her. "Yep, our house is a bit crazy. So, are you going to tell me what happened this morning?"

Alice sighed and glanced down at her son. "It's all a bit of a blur…"

"That's alright," the PC told her, reaching out to squeeze her hand, "take your time."

"I'd just got home from taking my older children to school and I heard a noise. I… I took Toby upstairs out of the way and came back down. There was a man in the kitchen. I shouted at him and he grabbed a knife…"

"Did he say anything?"

"What d'you mean?" Alice demanded, narrowing her eyes slightly.

Ellie kept her face impassive, battling the feeling that there was something the woman wasn't telling her. "Did he make any demands; money or jewellery or anything? Did he threaten you in any way? Is anything missing?"

"No… I don't know!"

"OK. OK, it's alright."

Standing up abruptly, the woman moved to stand at the sink, staring out of the window. She clutched her son tightly to her. Ellie watched awkwardly, relieved when Kirsty appeared at the French doors, breathing heavily.

"I lost him on Bardwall Road, but Nate and Ben are following him in the area car." The blonde said breathlessly.

"Is there anyone we can call to sit with you, Alice?" Ellie asked gently, concerned about the woman's mood. "Your partner? A friend?"

"No." She snapped. "There's no one… thank you."


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm sure there's something she's not telling us." Ellie muttered as she and Kirsty hovered in the kitchen, watching Alice sitting on the living room floor with her son. "When I asked if he'd made any demands or threats or if there was anything missing she went all… uncooperative."

"CID and Eddie are on their way over." The blonde replied. "I think you should try talking to her again; see if you can get her to open up."

"Why me?"

"Because you spoke to her before."

Sighing, Ellie nodded and made her way through into the living room. She smiled and settled herself down on the carpet beside Toby and his mother and waited a couple of moments while he finished the block puzzle he was playing with.

"Wow… that's brilliant!" The young red-head said enthusiastically. "How clever are you?"

"You can have the dog." The little boy offered, pushing a toy in her direction. She accepted it and held it in her hands as he proceeded to pile more and more animals on top of it.

"Alice… I need to ask you a few more questions." Ellie said quietly, glancing up as the pile of toys on her lap increased steadily.

The woman sighed. "Go on, then."

"I know this must be difficult for you… it's difficult for me; this is my first day on the job." She admitted. The hard glare on Alice's face softened slightly and she sighed again. "Did you know the man who threatened you?"

"I never said he threatened me." She replied quickly.

"So he didn't threaten you?"

"No."

Ellie frowned. "Why was he waving a knife around, then?" When the woman didn't reply, the young PC took a breath. "So did you recognise him?"

"No."

"Is there anyone who might want to harm you?"

"No."

With Alice being totally unhelpful, Ellie was running out of ideas and patience. "Have you checked whether anything is missing?"

"There's nothing missing." The woman replied quickly.

"OK… well… officers from CID and the Crime Scene Examiner will be here soon to dust for fingerprints and look for forensics." Ellie explained calmly. "It shouldn't take long. But then we'll need to take you down to the station to make a statement. Is there anyone who could look after Toby for you?"

"Can't I bring him with me?" Alice asked, sounding slightly panicked.

Ellie reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "He can come to the station and someone can watch him while you're making your statement."

"Thanks…" The woman nodded, her frosty attitude thawing slightly. "I…"

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

Shooting her a smile Ellie stood up, dislodging the toys on her lap and causing some kind of soft toy avalanche, much to Toby's amusement. She moved quickly back into the kitchen and frowned. Kirsty glanced at her, raising an eyebrow.

"There's definitely something not right about this."

Kirsty shrugged. "There isn't much we can do if she won't talk. Maybe when CID get here and if Eddie finds some fingerprints she might be more willing to tell us what's going on."

"Maybe…"

They moved back into the living room as the doorbell rang. Grace and Stevie entered the room, followed by Eddie and his team. Kirsty showed the Crime Scene Examiner through to the kitchen which, as far as they were aware, was the only room the intruder had been in. Ellie sat with Toby on the floor, keeping him occupied while the two detectives attempted to get anything more out of Alice than she had managed. They were largely unsuccessful; if anything, the woman appeared to be less cooperative with them than she had with the young red-head.

Finally, they gave up trying to get her to talk and suggested she accompany them back to the station to make her statement. She agreed, on the condition that Ellie looked after her son while she was doing it. Stevie arched an eyebrow at her friend's daughter, nudging the young PC in the ribs as she passed.

Bouncing Toby on her hip, Ellie headed into the canteen to get something to drink, passing Jo on her way out. The brunette Sergeant did a double take, frowning slightly at the toddler her step-daughter was carrying.

"I might be getting on a bit, but that is definitely not Dylan." She pointed out smiling at the little boy, who hid his face in Ellie's shoulder.

"No, this is… can you tell Jo your name?"

"Toby Parker." He mumbled, still hiding his face.

"His Mum's making a witness statement at the moment. She asked if I could look after him until she gets out."

Jo glanced along the corridor quickly, before grinning at the red-head. "So? How's it going?"

"Alright, I think… I'm sure there's something that Miss Parker's not telling us. I just don't know what it is." She shrugged. "Aside from that it's been a pretty uneventful morning so far."

"Hannah's text me about six times already."

The PC laughed. "I've not checked my phone. I never thought she'd be so worried about this. She's always been so laid back about everything before."

"She's worried you'll get hurt; that's all. She's so proud of you, though."

"Yeah, I know." Ellie agreed. "But this whole dinner thing tonight is going a bit far, isn't it?"

"How do you know about that?" Jo demanded, frowning slightly.

"Don't worry; I'll pretend it's a surprise, Mum." The young woman promised. "Abi told me. She didn't mean to; she just let it slip that Sam couldn't babysit Harry last night because she'd swapped shifts around to come."

"That girl's a nightmare." Jo said, rolling her eyes and smirking. "Anyway, you better get back to work before your Sergeant bollocks you. Oh, hang on…"

Ellie grinned as Jo headed away along the corridor, before moving to the serving hatch and buying a coffee for herself and juice for Toby. It was about half an hour before Kirsty poked her head into the canteen and informed her that Miss Parker was ready to leave. In a low voice she informed the red-head that the woman hadn't given them any information that they didn't already know, but that Eddie had found fingerprints in the kitchen that didn't match hers.

"So we think they're the intruders?"

"Probably." The blonde replied as they watched Alice and her son heading away. She had turned down the offer of a lift home, preferring to make her own way. "Whoever they belong to needs to be ruled out, anyway."

"We need more background on Alice Parker…" Ellie muttered. "I don't believe that she didn't know the man."

Kirsty shook her head. "Me either."

"So what are we thinking? An ex?"

"Maybe… let's go and run her through CRIMINT and see what comes up." The younger PC nodded, following her colleague and looking over her shoulder as Kirsty entered the woman's name into the computer database. "Well she's got form… shoplifting, possession, even assault… I'd never have expected that. Nothing for twelve years, though. Associated with… Darren Miles."

"Who's he?" Ellie asked, frowning. As Kirsty checked the name, she straightened up and tapped the photograph on the screen. "He's the guy we saw at the house. We need to go and tell Stevie and Grace."

As they headed up to CID, the two women laughed and joked. Kirsty swatted at Ellie with the printout as the red-head pushed through the double doors, ducking out of her reach. Max frowned at the two PCs, folding his arms and fixing them with a glare.

"Your Mummy's got a day off." He told Ellie, who scowled back at him.

"I know that, we've come to give Grace and Stevie some information on Alice Parker." She looked him up and down before adding, sarcastically, "Sarge."

"What've you got for us?" Stevie asked, bounding over and steering the red-head quickly towards Grace's desk. Kirsty followed behind, handing the older detective the printout and perching on the desk. "Darren Miles?"

"That's definitely the guy I chased out of the house." The blonde told her firmly. "He's got form for assault, handling stolen goods and burglary."

"So what's the connection?" Grace asked. "And why did Alice say she didn't know the intruder?"

Ellie shrugged. "No idea. But I'd say Darren is Toby's dad… the resemblance is definitely there."

"Well, you are our expert in small children." Kirsty teased her.

"Haha… so I think we should go and ask Miss Parker about Miles and see what she says."

Stevie nodded. "Go ahead. We'll see if we can find him."

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_**A/N: Thanks everyone for reading and thank you to K.A.S.97 for your review! :)**_


	3. Chapter 3

"There's no answer round the back, either." Kirsty called, appearing through the gate at the side of the house. "It doesn't look like there's anyone in."

"That's weird… she said she was coming straight home…"

"People do lie, Ellie." The blonde reminded her.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I know… especially when they've got stuff to hide." She moved to look through the living room window again. "Hang on… Kirst… Toby's in there."

"What?"

"There, look…" She pointed through the window to where the small boy was sitting in the hallway clutching several of the animals he'd been piling on her lap earlier that day. "Try round the back again."

As Kirsty retreated back through the gate, Ellie tried calling through the letter box. Toby shook his head as she asked him to try and open the door. Sighing, she moved back to the outside of the living room and looked at the windows carefully. Seeing that the handle on one of the small, top windows was up, she ran her fingers along the edge. She prised it open enough that, as she balanced precariously on the window sill she could just about reach the handle of the larger window below. Awkwardly she moved the handle, before dropping onto the ground and prising it open. Climbing through, she hurried into the hallway and scooped Toby up, before unlocking the French doors and letting Kirsty in.

"How did you do that?" The blonde demanded, frowning slightly.

"Secrets of a misspent youth." Ellie told her with a grin. "I had to know how to get in again after sneaking out."

"Didn't Hannah know?"

The red-head laughed, leading the way back into the living room. "Course she did; nothing much gets past her. I think she figured that as long as I could get back in at least I was safe. Besides, she's young enough to remember what being a teenager's about."

Kirsty shook her head, smirking. "Right… you stay down here with the kid and I'll check upstairs."

Nodding, Ellie sat on the floor with Toby and smiled as he immediately began piling his stuffed animals onto her lap, no doubt remembering the toy avalanche that morning. A couple of moments passed and she heard Kirsty moving around upstairs. Then the blonde shouted down for her to call an ambulance and Ellie stood quickly, rushing to the foot of the stairs. Toby laughed from the living room as his toys spilled all over the floor.

"What?"

"She's slit her wrists."

"Sierra Oscar from 298; ambulance required to 42, Shipley Avenue. Thirty-two-year-old female needing urgent assistance." Ellie said into her radio quickly, glancing at the little boy happily playing on the floor before closing the living room door and running up the stairs. "Shit…"

She grabbed a towel from the side and wrapped it firmly round Alice's left wrist, copying Kirsty's tight grip in an attempt to stem the blood loss. Taking the other wrist from the blonde's hand, she watched as Kirsty checked the woman's pulse and started administering CPR. For a couple of minutes they sat in silence, trying to keep her alive.

"Keep at it." Ellie muttered, hearing a loud banging on the front door and rushing to let the paramedics in. Grace and Stevie were behind them. "She's slit her wrists in the bathroom."

"Why would she do that?" Stevie murmured, her question rhetorical.

Ellie shrugged. "I better go and check Toby is OK. Oh… and Alice has older children too; they're at school. No idea which schools or names or ages or anything, sorry Sarge."

"Get onto it then, Ellie." Stevie told her. "Find photos or anything that can help us find them."

Nodding, the red-head went into the living room and picked up the family photograph that was sitting on the shelf above the television. She looked at it for a moment, before perching on the sofa and pulling Toby onto her knee.

"Who's this?" She asked, pointing to the image of the little boy.

"Me!" He obliged with a smile.

"And…" She moved her finger to point to his mother.

"Mummy… Nathan… Lara… Claire…" He said the names of the other children in the photo as she pointed to them.

Ellie smiled and tickled him. "Where are your brother and sisters?"

"At school." He told her, obviously getting bored and sliding off her lap to carry on his game.

"Which school, d'you know?"

He shrugged. "Nathan goes to big school."

"D'you know what it's called, sweetheart?" Ellie pressed.

When he shook his head, not glancing up from his toy cars, she told him to stay there before heading up the stairs. Skirting past the paramedics and other officers, she poked her head into a bedroom. The walls were pink and she guessed that it must belong to Toby's sisters. Inside, she went straight to the wardrobe, pushing the clothes to one end of the rail until she found a school jumper. Reading the name of the school on it, she looked around for any other information that might help. Her eyes fell on a birthday card on the windowsill and she opened it. It was addressed to Claire from Granddad. On the bedside table in the corner, she also found Lara's diary with her age written inside the cover.

Holding the jumper tightly in her hand, she moved further along the corridor, bypassing Alice's room and heading through the third door along.

It took longer to find anything to identify which school Nathan might go to. Finally Ellie found an envelope pushed between two books and pulled the paper inside it out carefully. She frowned as she realised it was a letter about a school trip, wondering why it had been hidden. The letter did, however, have the school's name written at the top.

"Sarge?" Ellie called quietly, watching the paramedics carrying Alice down the stairs. "Her other children are Nathan aged eleven or twelve, Lara aged eight and Claire aged six. Nathan goes to Dean's Gate Comp and the girls go to Elcott Primary."

"You found all that out from a jumper?" Kirsty asked, leaning against the bathroom doorframe and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah…" The younger woman replied, shrugging. Then she grinned. "Course not. There was a sixth birthday card written to Claire and Lara's diary said her age in it. I found a letter about a year 7 school trip in Nathan's room, so I guessed that he must be eleven or twelve."

"You'll be in CID in no time with detection skills like that." Stevie told her with a wink. "Right, we'll go with the ambulance to St Hugh's. You two go and collect her kids; don't tell them what's happened. Keep them calm and take them to the station." As they nodded and started down the stairs, she called after them. "Oh and see if they can tell you anything about Darren Miles."

"Have you tracked him down yet?"

"Not yet, but we're working on it."

After collecting the three older children from school, the two PCs settled them in the soft interview room and Kirsty went off to fetch drinks and snacks before they asked them anything about Miles. Nathan was smart enough to realise that they weren't being told the full story. Ellie watched him carefully and, from the way he acted around his younger siblings, she could tell that he was used to looking after them.

"Where's Mum?" He asked, lowering his voice so that his sisters wouldn't hear. "I know something's happened. Is she dead?"

"Why would you think that?" Ellie asked, surprised by the casual tone he used to ask the question.

Nathan shrugged. "She tried to kill herself before."

"When was that, sweetheart?"

"Last year…"

"Well she's not dead. She's in St Hugh's hospital and they're looking after her." She told him firmly. "Listen… do you know someone called Darren Miles?"

"Dad? Yeah." The boy replied with a frown. "What's he got to do with this?"

"Does your Dad live with you?"

"No… he lives at the other end of the Estate with his girlfriend, Selina."

Ellie glanced up as Kirsty entered the room. "When did you last see your Dad? Do him and your Mum get on?"

"What's all this about?" He demanded, furrowing his eyebrows suspiciously. "You said Mum tried to kill herself."

"No, I said she wasn't dead." The red-head reminded him.

"So she didn't try to kill herself. Is that why you're asking about Dad? Did he hurt her?"

Putting an arm around his shoulders and giving him a reassuring squeeze she shrugged. "Do him and your Mum argue a lot? D'you think he would hurt her?"

"He said… Mum said he told her he was gonna take us away. She couldn't survive without us. I don't want to live with Dad… Mum needs me. She can't cope on her own."

Sensing that Nathan was getting agitated, Ellie gave him a hug. "Don't worry about your Mum. She's in the best place at the moment." She promised. Glancing at the book on his lap, she smiled and picked it up. "My little brother's reading this. He tried to explain the story to me, but I didn't really get it."

"How old is he?" Nathan asked, looking at her with interest.

"He was ten a couple of days ago. You're eleven, aren't you?"

He nodded. "How did you not understand the plot? It's really simple."

"I guess you boys are clever than me." She replied with a shrug, listening as he launched into an explanation of the book in his hands.


	4. Chapter 4

With what Nathan told them and Eddie's forensic evidence, Stevie and Grace had enough to arrest Darren Miles for the break in and threatening Alice. The four children had been taken into care but Ellie had persuaded the social worker to keep them together. She had assured Nathan that it was only until Alice was well enough to look after them again, but he didn't seem to believe her. Ellie wasn't entirely sure whether she believed what she'd told him, either.

"You did well, girls, well done." Max told them, insincerely.

"It was Ellie, really, Sarge." Kirsty told him. "She got through to the kids and they told us what we needed to know."

"On the same wavelength as small children… I'll remember that." He replied smirking.

Stevie laid a hand on the young red-head's arm. "Well done."

"Thanks, Sarge." Ellie smiled at her, understanding what her mother had meant about DS Carter's attitude. She had thought that Hannah had been over-exaggerating, but now she saw that he really was as bad as she said.

"Pub?" Kirsty asked as the two PCs headed to the changing rooms at the end of their shift.

"I would love to, but my Mum's organised this dinner thing. If I'm late she'll kill me." The red-head thought for a moment. "Although it is supposed to be a surprise and I don't suppose one drink will hurt."

She winked and laughed. Within a short space of time the female PCs were ready and waiting for their male colleagues who were taking longer to get changed. Leon appeared at the same time as Jo walked along the corridor on her way to the changing rooms.

Jo arched an eyebrow. "I hope you're planning on being home by seven?"

"Course. I'm just going for one. It is the end of my first shift after all." The young woman reasoned. "Why don't you come with us? That way you can make sure I'm home on time."

"Oh, go on, Sarge!" Mel encouraged her with a grin.

Rolling her eyes, Jo nodded and disappeared into the female changing rooms. When she emerged, she threw an arm around Ellie's shoulders and they headed out of the station to the pub. Jo bought the first round and Smithy bought the second. At twenty to seven, the brunette Sergeant stood up and pulled the red-head to her feet, ignoring the complaints and calls for them to stay.

"I am not sleeping on the sofa tonight." Jo told her step-daughter firmly. "So hurry up."

Ellie drained her glass before grabbing her jacket and following the brunette from the pub, pushing her arm through Jo's. "What's she cooking, anyway?"

"Who knows? Lobster… a full roast dinner… cheese on toast? It could be anything where your mother's concerned."

"Isn't Abs a vegetarian now?"

Jo snorted. "Like that's going to affect Hannah's limited menu."

"Fair point." The younger woman conceded, grinning at Jo as she started the car and began driving them home. "Mum's back at work tomorrow, ain't she? That could be fun."

"She'll be alright; she'll forget about you as soon as she gets her head stuck into a case, just like she forgets about me. No one could ever accuse Hannah of giving preferential treatment."

They pulled up on the drive and Jo stood back to let Ellie enter the house first. The red-head rolled her eyes and walked into the house. She was immediately leapt on by her siblings and son. Hannah appeared in the kitchen doorway and grinned at her eldest daughter.

"How was your first day on the beat?"

"Great." Ellie told her at once. "I loved it."

"She was brilliant, apparently." Jo announced squeezing the young woman's shoulders before moving past her to head upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Hannah demanded. "They'll be here soon."

"They? Who?" Ellie asked innocently, earning herself a smirk from Jo who continued up the stairs and out of sight, much to Hannah's annoyance.

Hannah grinned. "Sam, Phil, Abi and Harry are coming over for dinner to celebrate your first day!"

"You're kidding?"

Her mother paused, narrowing her eyes. "You knew, didn't you?"

Ellie laughed. "Yeah, sorry Mum; Abi's got a big gob. I appreciate the thought though."

As the older red-head had predicted, moments later the doorbell rang and Theo and Molly jostled to be the first one to the door. Theo, being taller and faster, arrived first and yanked it open. Molly immediately dragged Harry away to play, while her older brother threw himself at Phil. Apart from his sixteen-year-old uncle and Jo's seventy-year-old father, Phil was the most influential male in Theo's life and the boy worshipped the ground the detective walked on. Jo and Hannah weren't entirely sure that Phil was always the best role model for him, but as long as Theo was happy so were they.

Sam and Abi, not required by the younger members of the family, made their way through to the kitchen and were immediately handed glasses of wine by Freya.

"Dinner here is certainly an experience." Sam joked as she helped Hannah plate up the meal. "Usually the host does all the work."

"You wouldn't be able to sit back and be waited on; you'd get bored." Her friend pointed out, moving to shout up the staircase to her teenage brother.

He slouched down the stairs and dropped into his chair without a single word. The three older women exchanged a glance, smiling at each other at the impossibility of teenagers. As generally happened when the four career-orientated detectives got together, talk soon turned to their latest cases. Phil was telling them about a raid he'd been involved in when Molly climbed on her chair in an attempt to attract her mother's attention.

Jo winked at the five-year-old before telling the kids they could be excused. Not needing telling twice, Max, Theo, Harry and Molly made an immediate break for freedom. Freya and Abi left the table too, not wanting to sit around listening to the others talking shop all night, taking Dylan and Caitlin with them.

"So, PC McKay, how was your first day?" Phil asked, leaning back lazily in his chair and resting his arm along the back of Sam's.

Ellie proceeded to tell them about her day. When she reached the end, she turned to her mother and pulled a face. "You're right, though… DS Carter is a complete arse."

"What's he done now?" Sam asked.

"Kirsty and I went up to CID to give Stevie and Grace some information and he told me that my Mummy had the day off." The young woman told them bitterly, her eyes flashing with irritation. "And he said that he'd remember that I'm on the same wavelength as small children."

"He's a knob." Jo told her bluntly with a shrug. "Ignore anything he says that isn't repeated or acknowledged by someone else. Anyway, Grace told me that Neil had another go at him about his attitude just before the end of the shift."

"What is his problem?" Hannah asked, pulling a face. "I'd have said that he was a sexist pig, but he's like that with everyone."

"I don't want you jumping in and fighting my battles for me." Ellie warned her quickly. Then she glanced at Jo. "Either of you."

Hannah shook her head. "Don't worry, I'm going to be pretending that I don't know you." She winced. "Surely I don't look old enough to have a daughter in the police?"

"Maybe not, but you do look old enough to be a Granny." Phil told her with a grin, holding up his hands as, in unison, Sam smacked him on the chest, Jo threw her bread roll at him and Hannah kicked him under the table. "Sorry, sorry!"

"Yeah, well, Granddad Phil, we can't all have your youthful good looks." Jo told him with a grin.

"I dunno… the view's pretty good from where I'm sitting." He replied cheekily, winking at each woman in turn.

* * *

_**A/N: This is POSSIBLY the last update for a week or so... I'm going to stay with some mates and I'm not sure whether I'll take my laptop or not. Well, hopefully I'm going to stay with some mates... unless the snow ruins my plans!**_

_**Anyway, thanks for reading and thanks to K.A.S.97 for reviewing :)**_


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, much to Hannah's annoyance, she was paired on a robbery case with DS Carter. He refused to take any of her suggestions or theories seriously and deliberately shot her down in front of the DI and the Superintendent, leaving the red-head fuming. As they left the briefing, Stevie squeezed her arm supportively and Grace shot her a weak smile, before Hannah took a deep breath and followed Max from the office and down to a pool car.

It took them almost all day to track down their suspect and, although he had been the one Hannah had put her finger on right at the beginning of the investigation, the Detective Sergeant was pulling rank and making it very clear it was his collar. She clenched her jaw, receiving a warning look from Neil as he spotted the expression on her face and her eyes flashing dangerously. Taking a deep breath Hannah suggested that they head out and picked the suspect up, earning herself a sarcastic comment about not just being office decoration.

Hannah and Max bickered all the way to the flat that housed their main suspect; James Harper. She slammed the passenger door ferociously, striding towards the building and leaving Max to follow in her wake. He scowled and stamped after her, pummelling on the door until it was opened.

"DS Carter, DC McKay, Sun Hi– Hey!"

As they had been showing their warrant cards, the young man had slammed Hannah against the wall and darted off down the balcony towards the stairwell. She coughed and spluttered, trying to force air back into her lungs while Max radioed for backup.

"What are you waiting for? Christmas?" Hannah choked. "Get after him!"

Shooting her a filthy look as she continued to gasp for air, Max sprinted after Harper. Straightening up, the woman took one final deep breath, before joining the chase. Over the balcony she spotted Max and Harper on the level below, heading from left to right. Running towards the stairs, she headed down, intending to cut them off before they reached them. Harper, however, spotted her rushing through the doors and changed direction, speeding off along the balcony.

Turning on her heels, Hannah descended another flight of steps, running further through the estate until she spotted Harper bursting through a door to her right. In an instant the red-head was on him, throwing herself on the young man and wrestling him to the ground. When Max appeared through the doors, she had him handcuffed and was ignoring the torrent of abuse and threats being sent her way as she sat calmly on the ground and examined a rip in the knee of her jeans.

"Honestly… don't send a man to do a woman's job." She muttered, glancing up as Max skidded to a halt beside them. "A woman in high heels, who's just been winded."

"Just get him in the car."

"Do it yourself, big man." Hannah snapped, refusing to be bossed around anymore.

"Can someone just put me in the fucking car?!" Harper demanded.

"You shut up." Max ordered, grabbing him roughly and pulling him in the direction they'd left the pool car.

The bickering on the way back to the station was, if possible, worse than the bickering on the way to the Estate. In the back of the car, James Harper gave up on adding his comments to the argument after a while, sitting back and listening to the detectives sniping at each other furiously.

As they left him at the custody desk, Hannah and Max both heard Harper's comments about them and turned angrily. "It was like being arrested by five-year-olds. Next time send some proper police to get me, yeah?"

"Oh, sod off!" Hannah snapped.

"Watch your mouth!" Max ordered at the same time.

"DS Carter, DC McKay… my office. Now." Smithy ordered, overhearing the exchange and spotting the tension between the two detectives at once.

Reluctantly they followed, entering the Inspector's office and closing the door behind them. Standing side-by-side in front of the desk, waiting for the ear-bashing that was almost definitely coming their way, the pair couldn't resist glaring at each other. Smithy noticed the look and sighed.

"What's the problem, here?" He asked.

"He is." Hannah retorted quickly. "Everything has to be done his way or it's wrong. I'm fed up of his pathetic–"

"My way? What about you? You're the one who is totally unwilling to accept that anyone else might be right and you might be wrong."

Smithy held up his hands. "Enough. Hannah, Max… If you can't get over this childish rivalry and learn to work together then I'm going to have to take you both off this case."

"But, Smithy… this is my result!" Hannah complained. "I've found the evidence to link Harper to those robberies."

"I don't care, Hannah." The Inspector replied with a shrug. He folded his arms. "We're a team here and if you can't work as a team then we've got a problem." When neither of them responded, he unfolded his arms and leant on the desk. "Right, off you go then and I don't want to see a scene like that again. Understand?"

"Sir." They chorused, turning and marching out of the office.

Hannah passed Jo in the corridor, shooting her a weak smile that didn't meet her eyes, before glaring furiously at Max and pushing past him to head up to CID. The less time she spent in his company the better as far as she was concerned, as well as there being less chance they'd get into more trouble.

Jo frowned as her girlfriend disappeared through a door. Wondering what she'd been doing in the Inspector's office, the Sergeant knocked lightly on Smithy's door before going in. He glanced up, his eyebrows furrowed slightly. Seeing the woman in the doorway, he smiled.

"You want to know why Hannah was in here, right?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah." Jo admitted, perching on his desk. "What's happened?"

"Her and Max constantly sniping at each other; it's getting out of hand. They went to pick up a suspect and he complained to the Custody Sergeant that they were like a pair of children, constantly bickering. They can barely look at each other without it descending into an argument; it's the fifth time this week they've been spoken to and Hannah's only been here two days."

There was a pause and Jo looked away, not wanting to meet his eyes as she asked the question that had forced its way to the front of her mind. "You don't think…"

"What?" Smithy asked. Suddenly the light of recognition dawned in his eyes and he chuckled. "Max and Hannah? No way."

"But… we started off like that; we couldn't stand being within five feet of each other."

Smithy stood up and moved around his desk, laying a reassuring hand on the woman's arm. "Anyone can see that Hannah's not interested in Max. She's not interested in anyone but you, Jo."

"Oh… I'm just being stupid."

"Yeah, you are." Her superior agreed with a grin.

Jo stood up and smiled. "I better get on; those reports won't write themselves."

x-x

Hannah had walked into CID hoping for a chat with Stevie, a cup of coffee and a break from Max. What she received, however, was a summons into the DI's office and a stern glare. With a sigh, Hannah stood up and followed Neil into his office, waiting in front of the desk as he closed the door.

"I hear you had a chat with Inspector Smith on your return to the station." He said, his tone making it sound like a question, rather than a statement. Knowing it was rhetorical she said nothing. "This is the ninth time in two weeks your attitude and relationship with colleagues has been called into question."

"By relationship with colleagues you mean the fact that Max is a complete–"

"I don't want to hear it, Hannah." Neil informed her bluntly. "Max can be abrasive; we all know that. But it's your inability to let it go over your head that concerns me."

The red-head glanced down, knowing that she was probably in big trouble and not wanting to make it worse. "I'm sorry, Guv… he just seems to deliberately enjoy winding me up. He's a bully!"

"Well… that might be the case. But I need to be seen to be doing something about this. If I can't control one Detective Constable, then I'm going to lose the respect of the whole team." He told her. Hannah held her breath, panicking that she was about to be fired. "I'm transferring you over to Uniform for a week. That'll give you time to cool off."

Hannah's mouth dropped open. "What? Guv…"

"Tomorrow morning you'll report to Uniform." He replied firmly; his tone indicated that the subject was closed.

* * *

_**A/N: So... I'm epically snowed in and couldn't get to my mates'. That means updates for you guys! Well... I'm hoping to get a train tomorrow... but we'll see!**_


	6. Chapter 6

Hannah left the station angrily. She popped her head around the Sergeants' office and told her girlfriend she was heading home. Jo had been wading through paperwork and gave her a quick kiss before telling her she'd try not to be late and she'd bring Ellie home when her shift ended. Nodding, the red-head had left, striding to her car and slamming the door.

As soon as she arrived home, Freya appeared, looking a little worried. Hannah, however, was distracted by the events of her day at work and didn't notice the expression on her sister's face. She crashed about in the kitchen, starting to prepare dinner and snapping at Max for dumping his dirty washing on the floor and wandering off without saying a word.

"You alright, Han?" The young blonde asked, handing her sister a mug of coffee and pushing her into one of the chairs at the table. She bent to gather the pile of their brother's clothes into the washing machine before joining her at the table.

Hannah sighed deeply. "Bad day… The DI's sending me to Uniform for a week."

"Why?" Freya frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It's a punishment because my Sergeant is a complete tosser. He's been treating me like an idiot all day and yet it's me who gets into trouble for it." She snapped. Then she sighed again, realising that she was taking out her frustrations on her sister. "Sorry, babe. I think it's just a way of keeping me and Max apart for a while in the hopes we'll both forget we can't stand each other."

"So you'll be working with Els and Jo?"

Groaning, the older sister rested her head on her arms. "That'll be fun."

"Don't let them hear you dissing Uniform."

"There's nothing wrong with Uniform." Hannah told her quickly. "That's not the problem. It's just… I'm used to CID and although Ellie and I are the same rank, being in Uniform is going to make that so obvious. I just… oh, I don't know."

"It's like a step backwards?"

"Sort of… in my head, anyway."

Freya smiled at her, standing up as the oven started beeping. "It's only a week; you can handle that. Have you told them yet?"

"No… I expect Neil's told Smithy, Jo and Callum, though." The red-head replied. She moved to take over chopping the vegetables that Freya had started. "Anyway, what's new with you?"

"Oh…" Freya turned away, busying herself with a pile of papers on the counter.

Hannah stopped what she was doing and turned curiously to face her sister. Freya was still looking away, making the detective frown slightly. "What?"

"I've just… there's something I need to tell you about."

"Is it Alex?" She asked, referring to her sister's boyfriend.

Freya shook her head. "No… it's…"

Before she could tell Hannah what it was, the red-head's mobile began vibrating against the counter, making them both jump. Assuring her that what she wanted to say could wait and it would probably be better when everyone else was there to hear it at the same time, Freya took over chopping the vegetables once more.

"Hey, gorgeous." Hannah grinned as she accepted Jo's call.

"You won't be quite so cheerful when you hear what I'm going to tell you." Her girlfriend said. Instantly Hannah's face fell. "I'm gonna be late home… I wouldn't wait up if I were you; I know you're on earlies. Ellie's just left, though."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The red-head demanded furiously. "Are you the only bloody Sergeant in that nick? Where's Callum?"

Jo sighed. "Calm down, sweetheart. It's not anyone's fault; there was an RTC and I was the first one there. I want to see it through, alright? The kid might not pull through. He's only Mol's age."

Despite knowing that Jo was playing the emotional card with her, something the older woman knew from experience worked every time, Hannah found she couldn't be angry. Unwilling to back down, however, she forced her tone to stay cold. "Fine, whatever. I guess I'll see you sometime."

Without saying goodbye, she hung up the phone, slamming it down on the kitchen counter and returned to furiously glaring at the carrots simmering on the stove, as though daring them to not cook quickly enough. Freya winced as the woman stabbed a knife viciously into one of the potatoes she'd just set to boil in a pan.

"Want me to lay the table, Han?" She asked gently, wary of having her head bitten off.

"Yeah… thanks, babe. Six places."

"Is Jo not going to be back?"

Hannah snorted. "No she's bloody not." Freya didn't reply, knowing that her comments would not be appreciated. Instead she set the table in silence. Her sister sighed, reading her sister's lack of response accurately. "I'm being irrational again, aren't I?"

"Yes." The young blonde admitted. "You know how involved you get in your cases and Jo is just the same. What's happened?"

"RTC… there's a young boy in a critical condition." She admitted, feeling terrible. At the expression on Freya's face, Hannah sighed. "I know, I know; I'm a bitch. I just feel like I haven't seen her in months. Either she's working overtime or I am and bloody Max Carter's driving me insane with his constant criticism and putdowns and now I'm being punished for both our attitudes..."

"And that's Jo's fault how?"

"It's not, obviously."

"What did I warn you not to do when you announced you and Jo were together?" Freya asked, folding her arms and fixing her sister with a stern look.

"Fuck it up?"

"Exactly. And what did you do?"

"Fucked it up."

"And what are you on the verge of doing again?"

"Fucking it up."

Freya smiled at the petulant expression on her sister's face that always appeared when she knew someone had a point that she didn't want to admit to. "So what do you need to do about it?"

"Phone Jo and apologise?"

"Sounds like a good start to me." Freya agreed, squeezing Hannah's arm. "Jo loves you, Han. You need her. Don't push her away."

The red-head smiled and hugged her sister tightly, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "What would I do without you, eh? How are you so sensible?"

Sighing as Hannah, reached for her phone, the blonde took over dinner. Walking out into the living room, the detective pulled the doors closed behind her and hit re-dial. She had to wait a couple of rings before Jo answered, sounding distracted.

"Hey, baby, it's me." Hannah said in her most apologetic tone. "I'm really sorry for being a cow when you phoned. I just… miss you."

"It's alright." Jo told her at once. "I miss you too."

"It's not alright, though. You don't make me feel like shit when I work late. Don't be so nice to me."

"Don't be so irresistible, then." The brunette advised and, from Jo's end of the line, Hannah heard the unmistakable sounds of whistling and cheers. The older woman sighed and answered them, her voice slightly muffled as she obviously turned away from her mobile. "Oh… go and rent a DVD."

Hannah laughed. "Look… I will wait up. There's something I need to talk to you about, anyway."

"I think I can guess what it is. Smithy's just told me about your temporary transfer."

"Great…" She sighed. "Look… when you get home I promise I'll make it up to you for being such a nightmare."

"I'm looking forward to it; although, you are pretty difficult to deal with almost all the time."

"Sounds like I've got a lot of making up to do then." The red-head flirted.

"Definitely." Jo replied huskily, before coughing and raising her voice to a normal level. "I'd better go before this lot's imaginations go into overdrive. See you later."

"Love you."

* * *

**_A/N: As you probably guessed I managed to get a train to my friend's! Have in update anyway! :D_**

**_x_**


	7. Chapter 7

"It's not that bad in Uniform." Jo told her girlfriend as they pulled up at the station the next morning.

She was trying not to smirk at the unimpressed expression on the younger woman's face. When Jo had finally got home the night before, she had been treated to a detailed breakdown of the day's events from Hannah's point of view, before listening to her girlfriend moaning about having to go back to Uniform alongside her daughter. As far as she could tell, Hannah's main problem was either that Max had got away with his behaviour or that she would be properly working alongside Ellie, rather than just in the same building.

"I know that… I was in Uniform for eight years and I loved it." Hannah reminded her. "But I've been in CID for eight, too, and besides, I don't know if they can take two McKays in Uniform at once."

Jo laughed and glanced at Ellie as the three of them emerged from the car and headed towards the station. "What d'you reckon, love? Can she hack it in Uniform?"

"I dunno… she might be a bit past it; she is getting on a bit. I mean, sitting around in CID is one thing for a Nan to do, but being out on the streets?" Ellie teased, pushing her arm through the older red-head's and grinning at her.

"Cheeky cow! Jo's older than me! If anyone should be at home knitting socks it's her."

"Thanks for that, sweetheart." The brunette replied with a smirk.

Ellie shrugged. "Don't worry, Mum. I'll look after you."

"Go away." Hannah ordered mildly, pressing a kiss to her daughter's head before Ellie did as she was told and entered the station. Then she turned back to her girlfriend. "Why did Sam have to get a transfer? She wouldn't have punished me and not Max. Look at his record… he's always winding someone up."

"No… Sam probably would have taken you down the pub and got you drunk." Jo agreed, slinging an arm around her shoulders and starting to pull her towards the entrance. "But the Guv has a point; remember what it was like when you and I were constantly bitching at each other, or Phil and Stuart? It was totally counterproductive. Besides, if you've got a problem with Max lording it over you, use the fact that you've passed your Sergeants' exams to your advantage."

"But that would mean leaving Sun Hill, because there aren't any Sergeants positions here, which would mean we'd see even less of each other." Hannah reminded her. "Anyway, you're always complaining about how much more paperwork there is since your promotion."

"So you'd rather put up with Max than do a little extra paperwork? That's crap, Han."

Hannah pouted at her, knowing the older woman was right. She groaned quietly, before raising her face to Jo's, prompting the brunette to lean down slightly and kiss her. "Why are you almost always right?"

"Can I get that in writing?" Jo teased, kissing her again.

"Oi, you two!" Smithy called as he passed. "I hope you're not going to be like this all week?"

"Course not… we'll be back to arguing by refs." Hannah informed him with a grin.

Smithy raised an eyebrow. "You better not; that's how you ended up in this situation in the first place."

"Good point…"

They grinned at the man and headed inside. Hannah complained all the way through changing into her uniform. The others laughed, not taking any notice of her moaning; they knew Hannah well enough to realise that she was annoyed at the situation, rather than the fact she was actually having to be part of the relief for a week.

"How come you manage to look fit in your uniform and I look ridiculous?" She demanded, pouting at Jo.

"Oh, shut up! I love a woman in uniform, me."

Hannah raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Well, love a red-head in uniform." Jo corrected herself with a grin.

"I'm glad Millie left, then."

The brunette raised an eyebrow, before glancing around the changing room to make sure that everyone else had gone. She pulled Hannah towards her, resting her hands on the red-head's hips and kissed her. "Stop being difficult."

"You wouldn't love me if I wasn't difficult." The younger woman pointed out quietly, running her hands lightly down Jo's upper arms to her elbows and back up again, letting them settle on either side of her neck.

"That's true." Jo admitted, scrunching up her nose. "You are an adorable pain in the arse."

Kissing her girlfriend once more, Hannah pulled several pins out of Jo's hair and danced away out of her reach. The brunette groaned in annoyance as her hair tumbled over her shoulders, snatching at the pins the younger woman was holding out to her. As she moved to stand in front of the mirror and did her best to secure it in place, nowhere near as neatly as it had been before, she tried not to smile.

"I'd better get to the briefing." Hannah told her with a grin, darting forwards to stand behind her girlfriend. She placed a kiss on her neck before untucking Jo's shirt and backing away. "I don't wanna be late, do I, Sarge?"

"You're such a child!" Jo called after her.

Hannah ducked out of the changing rooms and headed through the corridors. Entering the briefing room, she dropped into a seat beside Kirsty and sighed. The two women chatted quietly for a moment until Jo entered the room with Smithy. Widening her eyes, Hannah tried to draw the brunette's attention to the fact that her shirt was only half tucked in. Jo blushed and hastily sorted it out, as Hannah sank down in her seat slightly and attempted to cover her smirk with her hand.

"You're terrible." Ellie muttered in her mother's ear, making the woman jump.

"It was totally innocent!" She replied in a low voice.

"Hannah… you've been here ten minutes and you're already disrupting the class." Smithy joked.

"Sorry, Sir."

He grinned, looking as though he was enjoying the moment far too much. "Right, for those few of you who haven't heard yet, DC McKay has been sent down from CID to work with us for a few days. Apparently the DI thinks that we can cure her bad behaviour with a week on the beat."

"Nothing can cure her bad behaviour. I've been on a night out with her." Leon commented, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

The red-head turned to look at him, smirking slightly. "Oi!"

"Settle down." Smithy continued. "Right… today is pretty straight forward… Most of you are going to be rounding up people on the lists we've handed out who're wanted for missing various court appearances. Callum and Hannah, Ben and Mel, Leon and Rog I want you on the Larkmead. Since the arrest of Cole and Hammond last week tensions have been rising and I want to make sure there's a visible presence. OK? Off you go."

With a low level chatter, the relief stood and headed out to start their shifts. Hannah and Callum made their way down to the yard, the Sergeant teasing the woman as he got into the driver's side of the area car and waited for her to get in beside him.

The shift passed slowly, with no trouble or anything interesting to report. Driving round the Larkmead one last time before they headed back to the station, Hannah suddenly grabbed Callum's shoulder and indicated for him to pull over for a moment. Without explaining, she jumped out of the car and headed quickly over to a group of four teenage girls who were hanging around beside a garage. Sergeant Stone watched her in confusion.

"Hey, girls." Hannah called, approaching them and removing her hat.

A tall, black girl raised an eyebrow at her and snorted with laughter. "You're kidding? You been demoted or summit, Han?"

"It feels like it." The woman agreed, coming to a stop in their midst. She accepted the cigarette that was being offered to her, taking a drag before handing it back. "Got in a bit of trouble and this is my punishment; a week in uniform."

"Suits you." Another of the girls told her with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up Alicia." Hannah laughed.

Alicia tilted her head slightly and nodded towards the car. "What's with the visit?"

Hannah glanced over her shoulder at the area car before shrugging. "Nothing, just keeping an eye on the Estate. You heard about anything being planned lately?"

"What? Since you nicked my brother and Asher?" Alicia asked in a slightly hostile tone.

"You don't like your brother." The officer pointed out calmly. "I distinctly remember you saying we'd done your family a favour nicking Ryan."

"Yeah, well…"

"Karen? Paige? Chlo?" Hannah pressed, turning to the other girls. "You heard anything?" When she was met by a wall of silence, the woman sighed. "Look… you know I've got your backs, right? Have I ever dropped you in the shit? I just want to make sure nothing's going to kick off that will end up in people getting hurt."

The black girl exchanged a look with her friends. "You didn't hear this from us, right?"

"Course not, Chlo."

"Tonio heard that it was Connor Payne what grassed on Asher and Ryan."

"Tonio?"

"Tonio Martinez. He lives in Ridwall House." Chlo told her quickly. "There's gonna be a fight… someone said he got hold of a gun."

Hannah frowned at the mention of firearms. "Really? D'you know who from? D'you know where and when this fight is gonna be?"

"Nah…" The girl shook her head. "We'll try and find out, though."

"Connor's alright." Karen added with a shrug.

"I'll put a note in Courtney's school bag and tell her to give it to Theo." Paige told the woman with a nod and a shrug.

"Cheers, girls." Hannah said sincerely. "I promise your names will be kept a million miles away from this."

"Thanks, Han."

Pulling a packet of cigarettes out of her pocket, she handed them over. "It's all I've got on me, but you're welcome to them." She winked and smiled, before turning and started to walk back to the car. Stopping, she smiled. "Karen, tell your Mum that I'll ring her this week 'cos she owes me a drink from last time."

She grinned and continued her walk to the car, opening the door and dropping into the passenger seat. Callum raised an eyebrow at her, nodding his head towards the girls who had started heading slowly away.

"What was that about? Wasn't that Alicia Cole and Paige Powell? Who were the other two?"

"It was just a fishing trip, Sarge." She told him with a grin. "Apparently some kid called Tonio Martinez has found out that Connor Payne gave us the information on Ryan Cole and Asher Hammond and he's looking for revenge. According to the girls, there are whispers about a gun."

"Anything more than that?"

"Not yet, but I should have something tomorrow afternoon."

"What if it's too late by then? You should go and press them for more information." Stone told her firmly.

Hannah shook her head. "No, Sarge, that won't work. Those girls trust me; if I go in demanding more then they're gonna run a mile. There's no point pushing it."

"Hannah… if there's a gun involved this is too dangerous for you to tread softly just to stop a couple of kids getting annoyed with you."

"Callum… this isn't about them not getting annoyed with me. This is dangerous, especially for them. Girls like that have no rights in a place like this. It's a male world on an Estate and the girls are just possessions that are handed around between them. No one understands it unless they've been brought up in that environment. Most of these girls will spend their lives living in fear of what's going to happen next; to them and to their families."

"You know about it, do you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yeah, Sarge, I do, actually." She twisted in her seat and pointed to one of the tower blocks. "I lived over there in Atwell House until I was nineteen. I was friends with all of their mothers. If I hadn't had a reason to get out then I would probably be in a similar situation to Louise Cole right now; with a kid in prison. Or maybe Ellie would one day… or Freya. I was determined that Max and the girls wouldn't have to grow up like I did, so I got out and it was bloody hard. Every day was a struggle to survive. So no, Callum, I'm not going to press them any harder and stop them trusting us."

* * *

_**A/N: Still up North... apparently there's meant to be more snow tomorrow :/**_

_**x**_


	8. Chapter 8

Paige Powell had been as good as her word and when Hannah went through Theo's school bag on Friday evening she found the note the teenager had asked her younger sister to deliver. Reading it quickly, she frowned and pulled out her mobile ignoring the addition from the girls' mother, Cara, inviting her out for a drink.

"Callum? It's Hannah… I've got the information about Tonio Martinez." She told him quickly.

"What does it say?"

"The fight is planned for this evening at the garages behind Paulwood House. Payne is going to be lured there by a couple of the girls and, before you say anything, they've got no choice in the matter or they'll be the ones in trouble with Martinez." She told him firmly, pre-empting his words. "Apparently the name connected to the gun is Neville Bailey; street name Cash."

"I've heard that name before… never connected to guns. He's got a string of offences for drugs, though."

"They often go hand in hand, don't they?" Hannah pointed out, dropping onto the sofa and picking up her glass of wine.

"True… right, I'm still at the station, so I'll pass this on to CID." Stone told her firmly. Hannah scowled, bitter at the fact that her lead would be passed onto someone else; knowing her luck it would be Max. "I can see your expression from here, Han. But this is a CID matter, so we have to inform them. Besides, you're off shift until tomorrow; we usually work set hours in Uniform, remember."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She agreed. "If I was in CID at the moment I'd be thrilled with the information I've just given you."

"But you're on the gritty end of the job in Uniform." He told her and she could almost see the grin on his face. "You did good today, kid."

"Cheers, Sarge. I'd better let you get on. See you tomorrow."

x-x

The next morning, after the briefing, the Inspector called Hannah and both Sergeants into his office. Ignoring the questions from the PCs about what she'd done now, the red-head followed them into the room and closed the door.

"Hannah, the information you gave Callum last night about Tonio Martinez and Neville Bailey led us to someone called John Perry. Heard of him?"

"No, Sir?"

"He comes up on CRIMINT as an associate of one Jared Westlake. What do you know about Westlake?" Smithy asked, perching on his desk and fixing Hannah with a serious expression.

She turned to look between Jo and Callum who were watching her with similarly serious expressions. "He's in Longmarsh, right?"

"Wrong." Smithy replied. "He was released two months ago. He was sent down in 1998 for intent to supply, GBH and false imprisonment."

"I know... I was there."

Jo frowned. "You were there?"

"I was working undercover - my first deep cover assignment. I posed as a young mum who was desperate to get off the streets and find a more... lucrative... job." Hannah informed them with no more emotion than recounting a trip to the supermarket. "Jared Westlake gave me a job at one of his clubs; The Candybox. It was me who linked him to Alan Ellis and Adu Ghani. But I'm guessing you already knew that."

The Inspector nodded. "Well we think he's up to his old tricks with a bit of gun running thrown in. Did Westlake find out you were an officer?"

"No. I was in hospital when the raid was carried out and I never saw him again." Hannah told them. Seeing the expressions on their faces, she smiled. "One of the girls was battered by a punter so I took her to St Hugh's to be checked out."

"What was your relationship with Westlake?"

She frowned. "Sir?"

"Did he like you? Did he trust you?"

"Yeah, he did. I wasn't one of the ordinary girls that he just pimped out. By the end of the operation I was more like management."

Smithy shifted uncomfortably on the desk. "What would you say to going to have a little chat with Mr Westlake?"

"Undercover?"

"Of course."

Hannah shrugged. "I don't see why not. But I was twenty-two the last time he saw me. Westlake's a fan of youth. He's not going to have much use for a thirty-five-year-old tom, is he?"

"Like you said, you were management." Callum reminded her with a grin. He looked cheekily at Jo for a moment, before returning his attention to the red-head. "Besides, I'm sure you can be persuasive when you want to be."

"Yes, Sarge."

"Right... Go and get yourself changed into something suitable and then come back here for a briefing." Smithy commanded, sliding off the desk and folding his arms. "Off you go."

Hannah nodded and retreated from the office, careful not to meet Jo's eyes as she went. She headed home and stared into her wardrobe, trying to work out what would be a suitable outfit for whatever updated back story they had dreamed up for her. She supposed they would have been through the original case notes and read up on her identity.

Finally deciding on a tight pencil skirt and simple white blouse, she pushed a couple of other options into a bag and slipped on her only pair of black stilettos, usually reserved for court appearances. She was in and out of the house in fifteen minutes, heading back to the station and into a briefing with Jack, Smithy, Neil, Jo, Callum and Max.

The red-head listened as the Superintendent outlined their plan and she nodded as he confirmed that she was happy to go back undercover in Westlake's organisation. Hannah had been less than impressed to learn that DS Carter was going to be acting as her handler while she was undercover. Apparently the three days they'd spent apart while she was in Uniform had done nothing to lesson tensions between them. Max had been treating her as though this was the first case she'd been involved in the whole time they'd been going through the cover story and details of the operation and she was starting to lose her temper.

"So, you remember your story?" Max asked, causing Hannah to roll her eyes at him.

"I remembered it the first time you told me it." She snapped. "After the fifth time I'm definitely sure I remember."

"Just tell me one more time."

Hannah breathed out sharply. "I'm Hannah Edwards, I'm thirty-five, I have a twenty-year-old daughter and since Westlake's been in Longmarsh I've retired as a prostitute and now look after my own girls, running an escort agency out of Johnny Dean's club, Base. I'm supposed to go in and suggest that we join forces. See... it's not exactly difficult to remember."

"I'm sure you can pull off your new identity convincingly." Max replied shortly, standing up and heading to the door. He left Hannah seething at the backhanded compliment.

"Ready?" Smithy asked. Everyone else in the room seemed slightly wary of the furious expression on the woman's face. "So you're totally happy with your story?"

"He just called me a washed-up hooker!" She snapped. At the expressions on their faces, she scowled. "Well, he implied it."

"Ignore him, Han." The Inspector advised. "Just concentrate on what you're supposed to be doing and you'll be fine."

"I know." She almost snapped.

Jack moved to the door, followed by Neil, Smithy and Jo. "Good luck."

"Ready, then?" Callum asked grinning as the four officers left; Jo sending her a weak smile through the window as she headed away. It was only then that she realised that he was dressed in civvies. Noticing the questioning look on her face, he grinned. "Well, all decent underworld business women need a driver and muscleman, don't they?"

"You didn't tell me this before! So you're the brawn and I'm the brains. Do you have a name?"

"Yeah, Callum." He told her with a grin. "We didn't want to give you too much to remember."

She rolled her eyes and stood up, pushing her oversized handbag onto her shoulder. "Thanks... Come on then, let's get this show on the road."


	9. Chapter 9

Hannah and Callum made their way into the dimly lit club and went straight to the bar. He ordered a beer for himself and a glass of wine for her as the woman wandered away to find them a table. When the barman handed them over, Callum joined the red-head at the high table in the corner, perching on the stool opposite hers. The Sergeant was careful not to obstruct her view of the door.

"Any sign?" He asked, taking a swig from his bottle.

She shook her head. "Not yet." Taking a sip of her drink, she swallowed quickly and nodding her head slightly. "That's Genevieve Hillier... real name Jenny Hill."

"The blonde?" Sergeant Stone asked casually looking in the direction she'd indicated.

"Mmmhmm... She's the girl I took to the hospital the day of the raid. It doesn't look like she's your average tom anymore."

"No, it doesn't…" Callum agreed, taking in the woman's appearance under the pretence of picking up Hannah's jacket which she had helpfully knocked onto the floor. "She looks a bit like you."

"Haha…"

As he straightened up, Callum prodded her in the thigh and nodded towards the door. "Hang on… is this him?"

Hannah nodded, taking another sip of wine. "That's definitely Westlake. Now we have to see whether he recognises me."

"Like you said, it has been thirteen years…"

"Shut up." She smirked, kicking him under the table.

As Callum winced and frowned at her, trying not to smile, the man striding towards them met Hannah's eyes. He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment before smirking and changing direction so that he came to a standstill beside their table.

"Hannah Edwards…" He exclaimed, giving the red-head a kiss on each cheek. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Neither have you." She admitted, slightly more coldly than she'd intended. "I heard you got sent down. Didn't know you were back, though?"

"I haven't been out long; only a couple of months." Jared smiled and turned to Callum, holding out his hand and looking him up and down in distaste. "I don't think we've met."

Hannah made the introductions. "Cal, this is Jared Westlake. Jared, this is Callum. He's my… well; he's the Hannah to my Jared."

"Right-hand man, then."

"Something like that." Callum agreed. He glanced at Hannah, as though he was looking to her for guidance. She smiled and nodded sharply.

"So, what brings you here?" Westlake asked, looking between the two figures seated at the table curiously.

The woman took a sip of her wine before answering, her tone totally calm and casual when she replied. "I was supposed to be meeting a client but, clearly, he's decided not to turn up."

"A client?"

Hannah arched an eyebrow. "Not that kind of client." She told him firmly. "I left all that behind long ago. I'm my own boss now; Callum really is the Hannah to my Jared."

"Really?" Westlake sounded intrigued.

Before the woman could reply, her mobile started to ring. Glancing at the display and seeing Max's name, she pulled a face of distain and handed her mobile to Callum, instructing him to deal with it. He nodded and carried the ringing phone away, only answering it when he was outside.

"So this client of yours…?" The man continued when he and Hannah were alone.

"That's confidential, I'm afraid, Jared." She replied smoothly. "You know how it works in this business." Glancing up, she spotted Callum trying to attract her attention from the doorway and nodded. Standing up, she drained the remainder of her wine and smiled. "I have to go."

Westlake rose too. "Listen… maybe we could arrange a meeting to discuss business, sometime?"

"I'm not sure." She said slowly. "Our dealings were in the past; I've moved on since then. I don't like looking back."

"Can we at least meet for a drink to catch up?" He asked, clearly not intending to take no for an answer. Internally Hannah smiled; if he thought she wasn't interested then he would be more eager to get her on side.

"I have a meeting in Base on Heathville Road just after ten. Do you know the bar?"

"Johnny Dean's place?"

"That's the one." She agreed, before nodding curtly and striding across the slightly sticky floor of the club to meet up with Callum.

He grinned as they headed up the steps and out into the daylight. "You know, that exit would have been a lot more impressive if your shoes hadn't been sticking to the floor."

"I know."

Back at the station, she filled the team in on what had happened and informed them of her loose arrangement to meet Westlake that evening. Jack congratulated her on handling the situation so well, but Max looked far from impressed. He watched her grimly as the Superintendent outlined plans for the meeting, combining Uniform and CID forces to keep an eye on the situation.

"Hannah, a word?" Max demanded, his request sounding more like an order. She exhaled as he led her from the briefing room and a little way along the corridor. "What are you playing at?"

She frowned at him. "Excuse me?"

"You are supposed to be trying to reel Westlake in, not alienate him."

"And that's exactly what I am doing." Hannah snapped.

"By telling him you don't want to do business with him?" Max asked, folding his arms and glaring at her.

"Excuse me, Sarge. I think I know Jared Westlake far better than you do. Telling him that I don't want to go into business with him is the quickest way to get his interest. People who say no to him are like a big old red button; he can't resist."

Max lowered his voice and took a step towards her, jabbing his finger in her direction. "I don't remember seeing your name as SIO on this case. Now you listen to me; if this case hits trouble then I know who I'm going to blame."

"What's going on?" Jo demanded, rounding the corner and seeing Max and Hannah glaring at each other. She immediately took in the Detective Sergeant's threatening demeanour and her girlfriend's defensive stance.

"Nothing." Max told her quickly. "Just going over a couple of points."

"Yeah, thanks, Sarge." Hannah muttered sarcastically. "I'm much clearer now."

She turned on her tail and headed down the corridor with Jo, clenching her hands into fists by her sides. Gently, the brunette grasped her arm and pulled her into a free interview room. She perched on the table and looked intently at the younger woman.

"Are you going to tell me what that was about?"

"Just Max telling me how to do my job again. Apparently if we don't get the right result it's my fault because clearly I'm not going about it the right way."

Jo frowned. "Ignore him, Han."

"Easier said than done." The red-head reminded her. "As he so nicely pointed out, he's SIO on this."

"You have to try and forget about it. If you're not totally in this then you're going to get hurt."

"You think I don't know what Westlake's capable of?" Hannah asked. "Do you seriously not think that I am actually a little bit worried about what might happen?"

"If you don't want to do this…"

She sighed and shook her head. "What, Jo? If I don't want to do this I don't have to? Of course I have to do this. Firstly it's my job, which I love and secondly, I want to do it. Jared Westlake is dangerous and, if he's involved with guns or anything remotely illegal, he needs to be put back in prison."

"At any cost?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sweetheart… this is starting to sound scarily like the Ashley Jamieson case." Jo told her softly.

"What?"

"You told me that the DS that was handling you on that undercover case didn't trust you to do your job and you took stupid risks to prove him wrong; ending up in… well… you got attacked, Hannah." The brunette reminded her, unnecessarily. "The cases are similar, the situations are similar and I'm scared the outcomes might be similar."

"I was young and stupid, babe." Hannah replied with a wry smile.

"It was six and a half years ago."

"Exactly." The younger woman agreed, moving to stand between Jo's legs as the brunette remained perched on the table. She placed her hands on her girlfriend's thighs, giving them a reassuring squeeze. "I've got so much more to think about now. I had Freya, Ellie, Max and Theo, but now I've got Mol, Cait, Dylan and you as well. I might want to prove DS Carter wrong, but not at any cost."

"Promise?"

Hannah smiled and leant forwards, pressing her lips gently to Jo's. "Promise."

When the two women emerged from the interview room a short while later, both were much happier about the situation. Jo wasn't worried about Hannah's state of mind anymore and the younger woman was less anxious about proving herself to the Detective Sergeant who managed to wind her up with a single look.


	10. Chapter 10

Hannah and Callum made their way through the typically large crowds of young people gathering around the club considering that it was a Saturday night and entered the building without being stopped by the bouncers. Johnny Dean, the owner, was an old friend and highly effective informant of the Superintendent's and had agreed to allow Hannah to 'operate' from his premises. His slightly dodgy reputation provided the perfect cover for her fictional line of work.

"Evening, Johnny." Callum said gruffly, leaning on the bar and glancing around.

Johnny nodded, clutching a bottle of champagne in his hand and three glasses in the other. "Alright?"

"You entertaining?" Hannah asked, arching an eyebrow and nodding at the bottle.

"I thought we were supposed to be having a meeting in my office, Hannah."

She laughed and nodded, following him as he made his way along the bar and held open a door marked 'private' ushering the two officers through. "You've done this before."

"More times than you know." He agreed, turning to the tall, thick-set man standing beside his office door. "Anyone asks for me or Ms Edwards, give us a knock, Bri." Turning back to the two officers he uncorked the champagne, pouring it and handing the glasses around. "Now then, what are we supposed to be discussing?"

"We're having a meeting about me using your bar as a backdrop for my escort agency." Hannah reminded him, taking a sip of champagne. "We split the profits seventy-thirty in my favour and we've been in business for the past five years. This particular meeting is because you want to change the percentage split and I am less than impressed."

"I won't take less than fifty per cent, Ms Edwards." Johnny told her with a grin.

Hannah shook her head grimly. "I'm sorry, Mr Dean, that's not going to happen. I am more than happy with our current arrangement. If you refuse to play ball then I'll be forced to set my tame… Callum… on you."

"Less of the tame." The Sergeant responded, smirking.

There was a knock on the door and the trio exchanged a look. As Hannah took a deep breath, crossing her legs and ignoring the smoking ban to light up a cigarette, Callum sent her a look which she coolly ignored. Johnny crossed to the door and opened it quickly, having a hushed conversation with whoever was outside before shaking his head and pushing the door closed.

"Westlake's here." He told her. "He wanted to see me, but I said I was in an important meeting and he'd have to wait."

"He won't like that." Hannah pointed out with a grin. She flicked the ash from her cigarette into the ashtray the bar owner pushed across his desk towards her. "It'll drive him mad that I'm suddenly more important than him."

"So what do we do now?" Johnny asked, taking his seat behind the desk.

"I think we should have another glass of champagne and leave him to stew for a while." The red-head suggested. She grinned at Callum as he looked at the alcohol in his glass with distaste. "I know you'd prefer a lager, love, but I'm afraid you'll have to slum it with champers for now."

They finished their drinks and chatted for a while. Then Hannah nodded at Callum and the officers stood. Shrugging her bag back onto her shoulder, she grinned at Johnny and moved to open the door, setting her face into a slightly annoyed frown. Almost as soon as they stepped out of the office and began to walk across the room, the woman found herself accosted by Jared Westlake.

"Oh…" She looked at him, as though surprised to see him. "Jared, hi."

"So your meeting was with Johnny, then?"

"Yeah, it was." Hannah agreed vaguely.

He glanced at Callum, looking him up and down slowly, before turning his attention back to the woman. "Can I get you a drink?"

"I don't think so, Jared, not tonight. I've got to check in with my girls before I go home." She informed him casually. "Maybe another time."

Smiling and leaving him staring after her, Hannah stalked towards the booth where Mel was sitting with Smithy. She leant against the back of the seat, putting most of her weight on one foot and lifting the other off the floor, wincing slightly.

"What's wrong?" The young woman seated with the Inspector asked, looking at her expression in confusion.

"My feet are killing me." Hannah informed her. "I think Westlake's taking the bait, Guv."

"What did he say?" Smithy asked, taking a sip from his pint and trying to remain casual.

"Asked whether my meeting was with Johnny and then asked if he could buy me a drink. I said no, obviously, then came over to check on my girls."

Callum grinned. "She's employing the 'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen' strategy, I think."

"It'll work, trust me. Westlake will be badgering Johnny for information as we speak." Hannah said with a shrug. She glanced over her shoulder and smirked triumphantly as she saw the two men talking in the doorway of the office. "Told you."

"Now what, then?" Mel asked, looking between the other three.

"Now we have to wait for Westlake to approach Hannah and offer her some kind of deal." Smithy said firmly. He looked at the red-head. "I don't want you going after him; he has to come to you."

"Of course." She agreed.

"Go and talk to someone else before he gets suspicious." The Inspector instructed. "If you're just supposed to be checking in on the girls you don't want to spend too long with any of them."

Hannah laughed. "Alright, Guv, I'll see you in a bit."

She and Callum headed away, spotting Kirsty and Leon at a table a little way off. They briefly filled them in on how it was going so far, before moving away again to where Ellie and Ben were. Hannah couldn't resist putting an arm around her daughter as she spoke, acting instinctively. Callum raised an eyebrow at her, but the woman just shrugged.

"I'm supposed to have a daughter, right? It was in my original cover story." She reasoned. "If Westlake says anything then there's an explanation. Besides, everyone always says Ellie looks like me, so he'll spot the resemblance and work it out anyway."

"So you're prostituting your own daughter?"

"Ben might be her boyfriend." Hannah replied with a small smile. "If you're my right-hand man, Ellie could be my second in command. The cover story's flexible at the moment."

The Sergeant shrugged and glanced around, before quickly turning back. "Watch out, he's coming over."

She nodded, almost unnoticeably and turned the conversation to something unrelated. She was rambling about the next holiday she was going to take, when Callum cleared his throat and she turned.

"Hannah."

"Yes, Jared?" The woman replied, almost sighing. "What can I do for you this time?"

He didn't reply, looking between the two red-heads with interest. "This must be your daughter; Ellie wasn't it?"

Hannah nodded, raising an eyebrow meaningfully at Callum as she was proved right about the resemblance. "You've got a good memory. This is Ellie and that's her friend, Ben. Ellie, Ben, this is Jared Westlake a former business acquaintance of mine."

"Have you got time for that drink, now?"

Glancing quickly at Callum, who shrugged and nodded, Hannah smiled. "Alright, but I've only got time for one."

She followed him towards the bar and allowed him to order her a glass of wine. Taking a sip, the woman glanced around, nodding slightly at Smithy to assure him she was alright. She listened to Westlake talking for a couple of moments, punctuating his chatter with meaningless comments, before he obviously decided that it was time to discuss business.

"So, Johnny told me about your dealings."

"Did he now?" Hannah asked, not giving anything away. She had guessed that Johnny probably had told him, but she wasn't going to assume that.

"He informed me that he allows you to run your business here for a reasonable cut of the profits."

She arched an eyebrow. "Did he also inform you that we're currently in negotiations about that cut?"

Westlake smirked. "He did." The man took a sip of his whiskey and swivelled on the bar stood to look at her properly. "What if I were to offer you a better deal?"

"A better deal?"

"What if you were to run your business out of my club and only pay me twenty-five per cent?"

Hannah paused for a moment, looking at the alcohol in her glass and apparently considering his offer. "Why should I agree? What's in it for you?""

"It means you're keeping more of the money and it'll give me the chance to rebuild my business after prison. It also means you and me working together again, Han. We could be partners."

"I already have a partner."

He scoffed. "What? That Callum? He looks like he could throw a good punch, but I wouldn't reckon much to his business sense."

"No, not Callum." Hannah said, shaking her head. "It's a silent partner. They prefer to stay out of the limelight. It saves… awkward questions."

"So am I wasting my time?"

Considering him for a moment, Hannah shook her head. "No… let me think about it. Have you got a card? I'll phone you tomorrow and we can discuss this further."

He handed over his business card and she stood, saying goodnight and striding back to the table where Callum had stayed with Ellie and Ben. The four left the bar quickly and headed back to the station, taking a very roundabout route to ensure they weren't being followed. Slowly the rest of the team arrived and everyone went into the debriefing which was led by the Superintendent. With the new information, Smithy, Callum and Max headed off to discuss their next move and everyone else went home.


	11. Chapter 11

"OK… we've updated your cover story after the other night. It's more detailed now, so try not to randomly add bits in when you feel like it." Max ordered, almost glaring at Hannah across the table on Monday morning. He stood up and moved to the board where the case was laid out carefully. "You run your escort business with the help of your daughter. Ellie will be coming undercover with you, so I don't want to hear you've done something stupid in a fit of misplaced maternal instinct."

"No, Sarge." She muttered, gritting her teeth at his lack of faith in her professionalism. It was also painfully obvious from his words that he didn't have children.

"You have a silent partner who Westlake will want to know the identity of, no doubt. For now that's a secret; we want to keep him on his toes. You'll just say he's keeping out of the way because he doesn't need the hassle and the police are keeping an eye on him." Max told her. "When you agree to run the business out of Westlake's club you will make it very clear that he is only providing the location and everything else is your business and under your control. Mel, Kirsty, Stevie, Grace and Jo have all agreed to pose as the escorts."

Hannah couldn't help snorting with laughter at the thought of pimping out her colleagues, even if it was purely fictional.

"Is something funny, Hannah?"

"No, Sarge." She replied quickly, pulling herself together.

"I'm sure I don't need to remind you that their safety is resting almost entirely in your hands. It'll be down to you to ensure that they are only left alone with police officers posing as clients."

"Of course." Hannah snapped. "They're my friends, I'd never put them in a position that–"

"You cannot afford to be sentimental." Max told her. "As far as this operation is concerned they're your employees." He placed a mobile on the table between them and leant on the surface, staring at her. "This is your new phone. It has all the numbers you'll need stored into it, so only take this one with you while you're at the club. As soon as you agree to work with Westlake you'll be in deep cover, so you'll need to make sure you stick to your new identity at all times."

"I know that." She replied, as though talking to a particularly stupid child. "This isn't my first undercover operation."

"Right, so obviously you can't stay at your house."

"We've been renting out Jo's flat, but the last tenants have just moved out. It's perfect timing; Ellie and I can move in there while this is going on."

"Good… good." He looked a little disgusted. "What about the other… children?"

"Jo will still be living at home and Freya, my sister, is there for the summer too. If the worst comes to the worst Jo's parents are always willing to babysit for us. Between them they'll be fine."

Max sniffed and pushed the mobile towards her. "OK. Are you ready to make the call? You've had a day to think about it and he'll be expecting an answer."

She nodded and picked up the device, scrolling through the contacts and selecting Westlake's name from the list, holding the mobile to her ear. She had to wait for a couple of moments before he answered.

"Jared? It's Hannah." She said, keeping her tone even and business-like. "I've been discussing your proposition with my partner and we're in agreement that it sounds like one we should accept." She paused. "I'm afraid not; you'll have to deal exclusively with me. No, I'm sorry; I've been instructed to keep his name out of our dealings. How long? I'll see you then."

"Well?" Max demanded, almost before she ended the call.

"We're on. He wants to meet in an hour at his club."

"Find Callum and fill him in. From now on you two and Ellie are off shift."

"Yes, Sarge." She nodded and left the room quickly, heading for the Uniformed Sergeant's office. Leaning round the door, she smiled at Jo who was sitting at her computer. "You got any idea where Callum is, babe?"

"He's on his way back in with a shoplifter." Jo told her with a curious look. "Why?"

Her girlfriend perched on the edge of her desk and smiled. "We're on. We've got to meet Westlake in an hour. Apparently I'm pimping you out for a while... I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that."

"It's only an undercover operation." Jo reminded her with a smirk.

"Good, because otherwise I'd be introducing a look but don't touch policy." Hannah informed her firmly.

The brunette laughed. "Are you sure you're gonna be alright?"

"Course. Besides, I'll have Callum there to keep an eye on me. And Detective Sergeant Knobhead."

"Is he still being an idiot?"

"Yeah… he felt the need to remind me that if anything happens to any of you lot it's all my fault; as if that wasn't already on my mind."

"We'll be fine, sweetheart." Jo assured the younger woman, reaching up to brush a strand of hair off her face, her hand lingering on Hannah's cheek. "You be careful, too."

"Sorry to interrupt, ladies." Callum called, causing them both to jump and turn quickly to face him. "Apparently you've spoken to Westlake?"

"Yeah, we're on. He wants to meet in an hour at his club."

Callum nodded and headed off to get changed. Hannah gave Jo a quick kiss before going to wait for the Sergeant. She leant against the wall in the reception area, folding her arms and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Who died?" Leon asked, looking the red-head up and down, taking in her business-like skirt suit and smirking, as he and Kirsty headed through the door into the reception area.

"Sergeant Stone if he doesn't hurry up." Hannah replied lazily. "We've got a meeting with Westlake."

No sooner had she spoken than the door opened and Callum appeared, tucking his shirt in as he approached them. With a brief nod at his PCs, the Sergeant led the way out of the station and over to one of the CID pool cars. He waited for Hannah to get into the driver's seat, but she grinned and threw him the keys, getting in the passenger's side instead.

"By rights you should call me Ms Edwards." She told him in a low voice as they walked towards the club. She grinned at the look he was sending her. "But I'm nice, so Hannah's fine."

"By rights you should call me Sarge." He replied, pushing open the door and ushering her through.

"Yes, but we're undercover, remember. I'm your boss." Hannah grinned, glancing up. "Jared, darling, how are you?"

"Never better." He told her, leaning forward and kissing her on each cheek. After a moment's hesitation he held out his hand for Callum to shake. "So, we're back in business, then?"

Hannah nodded, moving to sit on one of the stools at the bar, keeping in control of the situation. "It would seem so; although the business itself is my concern, Jared. You have no say in how I run it, alright?"

"Understood." He nodded. "Shall we drink to our new partnership?"

"Good idea."

Raising the glass Westlake had handed her, Hannah drained it in one, before pulling out her phone. She called Max, pretending to be talking to her mysterious partner and informed him that they were definitely going ahead with the change of location, before setting up a meeting with the girls to inform them of the change of plans.

The couple of hours before her colleagues arrived were spent going through details of the club security and arrangements for how things would work. Westlake agreed that he would stay on the side lines when the girls were working and let her deal with things her way. The red-headed detective made it crystal clear that she wouldn't tolerate any intrusion into her business and that she definitely wouldn't tolerate any threat to her employees.

Stevie and Grace were the first to arrive, finishing their shifts marginally before the Uniformed officers. Hannah sent Callum to get drinks, smirking at her friends as he rolled his eyes and moved away to do what he was asked.

"That's the office through there…" The red-head informed the two detectives, glancing towards the corridor that led to the room where Westlake had disappeared when Hannah's 'employees' arrived. "The security is pretty standard; CCTV in all the stockrooms, offices and corridors, except the section of corridor between Westlake's office and the toilets. There are a couple of familiar names within his employees."

"Anyone who would recognise us?" Stevie asked, accepting the drink Callum handed her.

Hannah shook her head, smiling as Jo, Kirsty and Mel joined them. "I doubt it; most of them haven't been nicked, they're just on our radar. Callum and I haven't been recognised, anyway."

* * *

_**A/N: Thanks for reading, guys! Also MASSIVE thanks to **_**Anastasia Dove**_** for reviewing! Anyone else fancy following her example? I won't try and blackmail you into leaving a comment, but it would make me very happy! :)**_

_**x**_


	12. Chapter 12

That evening, all five female officers arrived at the club ready to carry out their part of the operation. They made their way straight to Westlake's office, which Hannah had almost completely taken over already. She smiled and leaned back in the desk chair checking that they were all happy with what they were supposed to be doing.

After a couple of moments, there was a knock on the office door and Leon appeared. Hannah smirked at the slightly nervous look on his face, before sending Kirsty out with him. She laughed at the expressions they both sent her, knowing full well about the night they'd spent together not that long ago. The red-head was loving the opportunity this operation gave her to act as matchmaker, grinning even more broadly as she waved Stevie away with Smithy.

"It's a shame the DI isn't here, I'd have loved to see the look on his and Grace's faces when I paired them up." Hannah murmured when she and Jo were the only ones left in the office. Grace and Banksy had just left, not long after Mel and Max.

"You're terrible." The brunette muttered, shaking her head. "Who's coming for me, then?"

"Mickey."

"Mickey?"

Hannah shrugged. "I thought you'd have a laugh."

"I can think of more entertaining ways of spending the evening."

"So can I." Her girlfriend admitted, before standing up and moving around the desk to lean against it, standing closer to Jo. "But they're not entirely appropriate for an undercover operation."

"The ways I'm thinking of are not at all appropriate." Jo replied casually with a shrug. The look on her face sent shivers down Hannah's spine.

"Stop that or…"

"Or what?" Jo almost purred, smirking at the uncomfortable expression that appeared on the younger woman's face.

The knock on the office door prevented Hannah from closing the gap between them and acting on the feelings that the expression of lust in Jo's eyes were creating in her. She took a stuttered breath, before moving back around her desk and calling for whoever had knocked to come in.

"Alright?" Mickey asked, grinning at the two women, completely unaware of what he'd just interrupted. "I'm here for my date."

"I'll be watching you, love." The red-head replied with a grin as the pair headed out of the office into the main part of the club.

As soon as the door closed, Hannah brought up the club's CCTV feed on the computer. She quickly found the officers around the room, before focusing her attention on Westlake who was talking to several men at the bar. From the images on the screen she was unable to see whether or not she recognised them but, unwilling to sit around staring at the computer all night, she closed down the feed and headed out of the office.

"Jared." She smiled, perching herself on the stool beside him and flashing her most beguiling smile.

"Vodka coke." The man nodded to the barmaid, before turning to the men he was talking to. "Larry, Rob, this is Hannah Edwards. Hannah, this is Larry Benson and Rob Green; they're business associates of mine."

"Pleasure to meet you." Hannah replied smoothly, accepting the drink.

She tried to listen as they completed their conversation, but the noise around them blocked out their hushed voices. After a couple of minutes, the two men smiled at her, before shaking Westlake's hand and moving away. Left by themselves, Hannah turned to the man and raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of business associates?" She asked bluntly.

"You'll find out when the details are finalised."

"Jared I want to know what I could be getting myself involved in."

He smiled, indicating for the barmaid to top up their drinks. "I'd forgotten how blunt you can be, Han. I like a woman who speaks her mind."

The red-head raised an eyebrow, looking down at the hand Westlake had laid on her knee. "Don't even think about it, darling."

"It was worth a try." He replied with a shrug and another smile. "Anyway, back to business."

"Thank you."

"I've been making a few enquiries about something new; something big." Westlake told her in a low voice. "I'm meeting a contact in half an hour to discuss details. When I get back I'll tell you about it."

Hannah nodded. "None of the girls are going out tonight; just company in the club. There's nothing much to occupy me, so I can hold the fort here."

He grinned and squeezed her shoulder. The red-head watched as he walked through the door to the corridor leading to the office, reappearing a couple of moments later wearing his jacket. Westlake nodded as he passed her, leaving the club.

Hannah finished her drink, before sliding off the stool and striding towards the office. Inside, she brought up the CCTV feed on the computer once more and watched it for a couple of moments, before picking up her mobile and scrolling through the contacts quickly.

"Guv? It's Hannah." She said in a rush, narrowing her eyes as she spotted the two men Westlake had introduced her to on the screen. "Do the names Larry Benson and Rob Green mean anything to you?"

"Off the top of my head, no." Neil replied. "Why?"

"Westlake introduced them to me as his business associates. They're both IC1 with dark hair and in their mid-to-late forties."

"D'you have any idea what kind of business they're doing with Westlake?"

"No, I couldn't hear what they were saying. They only stayed a couple of minutes after I arrived and then they moved away. They're still in the club, though; not that far from Stevie and Smithy, actually." Hannah informed him, squinting at the screen.

"OK, I'll check them out and get back to you. In the meantime tell Stevie and Smithy to keep an eye on them."

"Yes, Guv." She agreed, hanging up the call and leaving the office quickly. With a grin, she came to a halt beside the table the Inspector and Detective Sergeant were sitting at; one of Smithy's arms draped around Stevie's shoulders. "Alright, lovebirds?"

"Stop it." The blonde ordered, a small smirk twisting her lips. "I'm still your Sergeant."

Hannah winked and drew her fingers along her lips. "Anyway, message from the Guv… see those guys there," she motioned to where Benson and Green were chatting up a group of women, young enough to be their daughters, "keep an eye on them, would you? Apparently they're business associates of Westlake; Larry Benson and Rob Green."

"Rob Green… that name rings a bell." Smithy murmured, frowning slightly. "Wasn't he suspected of being involved in that robbery at the electrical store on Henry Way?"

"No idea." The red-head shrugged. "Neil's looking into them." She glanced over her shoulder and saw her girlfriend sitting on her own while Mickey headed to the bar. "Listen, I'll catch up with you in a bit."

Passing Mickey, she informed him that she was borrowing Jo for a moment, ignoring his knowing smirk and motioned for the brunette Sergeant to follow her towards the office. Waiting in the corridor, she grinned as Jo appeared a couple of moments later. Linking their fingers, she pulled the taller woman further along the corridor to the blind spot that wasn't covered by the CCTV cameras.

"Having fun?" She asked in a low voice, smirking slightly.

Jo didn't answer straight away, pushing Hannah up against the wall and pressing their bodies close together. She moved her mouth close to her girlfriend's ear, making Hannah shudder slightly as she felt her breath on her skin. "Definitely."

"Jo… this isn't… I... you…" Hannah breathed, her hormones on overload as she struggled to form a coherent sentence. "Oh… what the hell…"

She gripped her girlfriend's hips, kissing her passionately. Jo's hands moved to Hannah's hair, pulling out the clip that was holding it in a sophisticated twist and setting the mass of loose red curls free. Flipping them round, the younger woman pressed Jo into the wall, moving her hands slowly up her body to rest on either side of her face before pulling away reluctantly.

"You are such a bad influence." She murmured breathlessly.

"Someone being a bad influence on you, babe? Impossible." Jo replied, pressing another kiss to Hannah's swollen lips, before pushing the hair clip into her hand. "Now sort your hair out and get back to work."

Jo stalked away, back in the direction of the bar and Hannah smacked her on the bum as she went, grinning as the brunette turned and winked. Twisting her hair quickly back into its previous hold, the red-head straightened her clothes before starting to follow the path Jo had taken along the corridor. She was just passing the office when Max appeared, grasping her wrist and shoving her into the room, closing the door behind them.


	13. Chapter 13

The red-head stared angrily at her handler as he folded his arms and glared at her across the office. Trying to resume some kind of control of the situation, Hannah stalked around the desk and settled herself in the chair, resting her elbows on the desk and flicking through her paperwork. She avoided his gaze for as long as she could.

"Well done, Hannah, really well done." Max snapped sarcastically, leaning on the other side of the desk, bringing their faces closer together. "You've just blown it."

"Blown what?" She demanded, amused at his inadvertent innuendo despite her anger at the man's attitude. "If you'd forgotten, according to my cover story I gave all that up years ago. I'm the boss now; mainly stick to the paperwork."

"Westlake saw you and Jo in the corridor." He told her, ignoring her joke and continuing to scowl.

"Saw me and Jo... what, exactly?" Hannah asked defiantly.

"Saw your little... show." Max replied, apparently unable to say the word 'kissing'. "You have just blown this entire operation because you cannot control yourselves."

The woman rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Who says it's ruined? So he saw me and Jo... so what? What does that matter?"

"Your cover is blown!"

"No it isn't." She argued vehemently, getting out of the chair and walking towards him so that she could prod her finger into his chest to punctuate her words. "Alright, so Westlake might know that me and Jo kissed, but he doesn't know we're police, does he? We can still do this."

Max paused and then shook his head. "No. It's too dangerous."

Hannah scowled at him. "Why? Just... Sarge, at least let me talk to him; see what he knows or thinks he knows."

"No, Hannah."

"I'll go over your head if I have to." She threatened, leaning closer to him and narrowing her eyes. Max's face darkened in annoyance, but the woman was surprised to see his eyes flicking from her own down to her lips and back up again. Hannah frowned. "I'll talk to Jack or Neil about this. We can't just give up on this op because you're pissed off that I have a love life and you don't."

A split second passed where the detectives just stared at each other. Then there was a knock on the office door and it opened, causing them to spring apart quickly. Westlake stood in the doorway, looking at them suspiciously.

"Jared, darling." Hannah smiled smoothly. "Max was just leaving, weren't you? I'll have a word with Mel and see what we can arrange."

Seeing that he had no choice, the detective nodded and left the room, sending the woman a final glare as he went. Hannah smiled sweetly at him before the door closed and she walked back around the desk, dropping into the comfortable leather chair once more and lighting up a cigarette calmly. She was surprised to see that her hands weren't shaking.

"He bothering you, Han?" Westlake asked, motioning over his shoulder at the door Max had just slammed behind him.

"He's a complete pain in the arse, but it's nothing I can't handle." She replied with a shrug. "How's business out there?"

Westlake nodded and settled himself in the chair opposite hers, lighting up his own cigarette. "Busy."

"Good."

There were a couple of moments of silence as Hannah tried to work out how to raise the subject of what the man may or may not have seen, without raising his suspicions that there was something more serious going on or that she'd just been tipped off. She glanced over the paperwork spread out over the desk in front of her quickly, flicking through her diary on the pretence of seeing who was working when and who they were booked with.

"So, Ms Edwards, you've been keeping secrets from me." Westlake asked after a couple of moments.

Hannah's head snapped up at his statement. She couldn't read his tone or expression and wasn't sure what he was referring to. "Sorry?"

"You and that tom, eh?" He asked smirking. The woman breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that was all he thought she was hiding. "You didn't mention that one. I never had you down as batting for the other team. She is a looker though; I'll give you that one. I'm impressed."

"She's not a tom, Jared. None of my girls are. They're escorts; that's why there are 'not enough of them' as you put it earlier. It's a personal service where the girls know the clients and the clients know the girls."

"The girls who sleep with the clients."

Hannah shrugged. "That's an extra; it's not taken for granted that they will. If the client wants extras, they have to be arranged in advance. Only a couple of the girls offer extras anyway. Mostly they just offer company and act as a glamorous piece of 'arm-candy', if you want to think of it like that."

Westlake looked at her for a moment and then shrugged. "You really care about your girls, don't you?"

"Of course I do. I know what it's like, remember." She told him, looking down at the papers on her desk.

"If your side of the business is the high-class escort side, what do you think about adding a... lower-class... side?"

"You mean girls who purely work as prostitutes?" Hannah asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you had something else on the cards? Are you going to tell me about your meeting now?"

He nodded. "I do have something else in the pipeline. You ever heard of Oscar Pinter?"

She shook her head, making a mental note of the name, relieved that he seemed to have changed the topic of conversation. "No? Should I have?"

"He's influential on the drugs scene." Westlake told her with a shrug. "But recently he's been branching out."

"Into…"

"Guns."

Hannah frowned, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the desk. She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. "Guns? What are you talking about, Jared?"

"There's a lucrative business in the lending of guns." He told her with a grin. "We buy a load in from Oscar and rent them out; say… £300 if they come back clean, £500 if they've been fired."

"We?" The red-head replied, arching an eyebrow. "Anyway, what do you know about guns? If you're actually going to do that then you'll need to get someone in… someone who properly knows what they're doing."

Westlake nodded. "I've already found someone; his name's Martin Field. He's ex-army and he's been working for Oscar for a while."

"So… what? Are you telling me to ask my opinion or is your decision already made?"

"It was more of a courtesy thing." He admitted, shrugging. "I've already put down the deposit on the first consignment."

"How much, how many and when?" Hannah asked, sighing and leaning back in the chair. She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "If I'm being dragged into your new venture I want to know what I'm dealing with. What type are they? What action?"

"You know about guns?" Westlake asked, surprised.

She shrugged and exhaled. "I had an ex who was into firearms."

"I'm going to start small and build the business up. The first shipment will contain five Berair LP01 blowback machine pistols. I'm paying a grand each for them on Friday."

"Berair?" Hannah frowned, not familiar with the name. "Never heard of that before."

"They're Malaysian."

"Right… well you have fun with that. Enjoy yourself playing with your little guns. I think I'm just going to stick to my business as it is; without the cheap hookers." Hannah told him, screwing up her face slightly.

* * *

_**A/N: Thank you all for reading! Huge thanks to **_**Anastasia Dove **_**and '**_**Guest**_**' for your reviews!**_

_****__**As a thank you from me for getting 2 reviews on the last chapter, have this one (which I didn't intend to post until tomorrow) now! :D**_

_****__**x**_


	14. Chapter 14

Hannah made her way up to CID and knocked on the door of the DI's office. She had made her way straight to the station after leaving the club to pass on the information Westlake had given her that evening. Not actually believing that the Detective Inspector would be there but knowing she would be unable to sleep until she'd passed on her knowledge in some form, even if that meant writing him a note to find when he arrived in the morning, she frowned slightly when saw the light on in his office. Hannah glanced at the time and wondered why Neil was still at work at two in the morning.

"Guv? I've got information for you."

"What is it?" He asked shortly. The woman thought he looked exhausted and felt guilty about giving him more to think about at this time of night.

"Westlake's buying five Berair LP01 blowback machine pistols from someone called Oscar Pinter." She said quickly. "The deal's happening on Friday. Apparently, he's got someone called Martin Field working with him on the venture. Field might have form for this kind of thing from what Westlake told me."

Neil stood and walked past her to the board in the main CID office that contained all the information on the case. He quickly jotted down what she'd told him. "What exactly is the venture?"

"Renting guns out; he's charging £300 if they come back clean and £500 if they're fired."

"D'you know where the deal's happening?"

Hannah shook her head. "No, Guv. I didn't want to press him too much in case he got suspicious. He seemed more than willing to tell me about it, almost as though he was trying to impress me, but I didn't want to push my luck too much. The less I ask, the more he's likely to tell me."

Moving away from the board, DI Manson folded his arms. "Fair enough, but we do need that information, Hannah." When she nodded, he copied her action. Hannah was just turning to leave, stifling a yawn and opening her mouth to say goodnight, when he spoke again. "How are you getting on with DS Carter as your handler?"

"Not great if I'm honest, Guv." She admitted. "He had a go at me in the office this evening and accused me of blowing the case. Westlake walked in on us. It was just before he told me about Pinter, Field and the guns."

"Why would he accuse you of blowing the case?" Neil asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hannah blushed, wishing she didn't have to have this conversation with her superior officer, even though she knew she'd have to tell him at some point. Either that or Max would take great pleasure in doing so, which would probably end up with both female officers being hauled in front of Neil, Smithy and, probably, Jack. It was easier just to get it over and done with when she could explain properly.

"I was talking to Jo and Westlake saw me kiss her." The red-head admitted quickly. "If anything, though, it made him like me more. Apparently it was the breakthrough I needed to get him to tell me about his plans. Like I said, he seemed to be trying to impress me."

Neil nodded slowly, obviously thinking over the consequences of what she'd told him. "OK, so Westlake knows about you and Jo. As long as it doesn't jeopardise the case, I don't see why it should be an issue; it isn't as if it contradicts any of your cover story and we weren't planning to force a relationship between you and Westlake to get information."

"I never actually confirmed or denied it, anyway." Hannah told him. "If needs be I can always think of a way to explain it away; say it was just a laugh or something. Westlake doesn't have to know it's serious."

"Alright… we'll discuss this when you come in for the briefing tomorrow afternoon and we've both had some sleep."

The red-head nodded, said goodnight and made her way out of CID and out of the station. She was on autopilot and had to stop herself driving home several times, redirecting herself to Jo's old flat. It was in darkness when she pulled up outside. Hannah sighed and unlocked the front door, heading through the hallway as quietly as she could and collapsing on the bed in the master bedroom. She didn't even have the energy or inclination to change before she was asleep.

x-x

"Mum!" Ellie shook her mother awake roughly, holding out her mobile. "It's Freya."

Hannah groaned, dragging herself into a seated position and squinting at the clock, before turning back to her daughter. "You do realise that I only got in five hours ago. You know I don't function on that little sleep."

"Freya." The young woman repeated, holding out the phone more agitatedly in her direction. When Hannah took it from her hand, she turned tail and left the bedroom at once, closing the door behind her.

"Darling, if this isn't a life or death situation…" The detective threatened sleepily.

"Sorry, Han… Jo's already left for work and Cait's ripped up Meg and Henry's phone number." Freya informed her apologetically down the phone.

Frowning and wondering what her sister wanted with Jo's parents' number, the red-head swung her legs over the edge of the bed and moved to pick up her mobile from the chest of drawers. Then she realised that she was looking at the mobile Max had given her to use in the undercover operation and sighed. It took her a couple of moments to locate her personal phone.

Reading out the number, she paused. "Why do you want to speak to Meg and Henry anyway?"

"I've got to pop out for a while this afternoon so I was gonna see if they could pick up the kids from school and watch them for a bit."

"Don't take advantage, Frey… don't forget that Henry's seventy and Meg will be in October." Hannah reminded her, slightly concerned for her girlfriend's parents. She knew they would be only too happy to babysit, having adopted all of the McKays as part of their family, but the detective didn't want them to feel obliged to help out.

"I know and I won't. But I really have to go out and I did ask Max, but I just got a mouthful of abuse because he's got plans with his mates." The young woman replied. Before Hannah could ask what was so urgent that she just had to go out, Freya told her that she had to go because Dylan had got hold of some felt tips and said goodbye.

As Ellie appeared in the doorway and handed her mother a mug of strong black coffee, the detective furrowed her eyebrows. "You got any idea why Freya's being all secretive lately?"

"No?"

"She mentioned something that she needed to tell me a few days ago, but she hasn't said anything since." Hannah said pensively. After a moment she looked up at daughter, slightly horrified at the thought that had just crossed her mind. "Oh god, you don't think she's pregnant, do you? She's got another year of University and then she'll graduate. She wouldn't jeopardise her future career would she?"

"Freya? No. She doesn't even want kids."

"But she has some kind of appointment this afternoon and she hasn't told me what it is. You don't reckon she's... she wouldn't… you know…"

Ellie sighed deeply. "Freya isn't pregnant and she's not having an abortion this afternoon. Now go back to sleep for a couple of hours and wake up in a less neurotic mood."

"D'you know what is wrong with her, then?"

"Mum! Seriously, just go back to sleep. There's nothing wrong with Freya." The young red-head said firmly, backing out of the room and closing the door behind her.

* * *

_**A/N: Thanks for reading lovelies! And thanks to '**_**Guest**_**' and **_**Anastasia Dove**_** for your reviews! :)**_

_**x**_


	15. Chapter 15

"Hannah? This is Oscar and this is Martin." Westlake informed the red-head as she strode into the club with Callum late the next afternoon, straight from the briefing at the station. "Oscar, Marty, this is Hannah Edwards and her associate, Callum Wilson. You remember I was telling you about Han?"

The two men sitting at the bar nodded and smiled. The older of the two men stood and moved towards her, smiling warmly. He looked about fifty with greying hair and a pleasant, trustworthy face. Hannah wasn't fooled for a moment, but returned his smile and extended her hand to shake his. When he raised it to his lips and kissed the back of her fingers, she did her best not to shudder.

"Ms Edwards, it's a pleasure to meet you." He told her smoothly. "Jared's been telling us all about you and your business."

"I'm sure he has, Mr Pinter." Hannah replied, keeping her expression neutral. "Although I can't say he's told me much about you and yours."

Pinter smiled again, his eyes raking over her. "There's plenty of time for us to get better acquainted."

"I'm sure." She agreed, glancing sideways at Callum and motioning towards the office with her head. "If you'll excuse us, I need to sort tonight's arrangements."

With Callum close on her heels, Hannah escaped into the office and closed the door firmly. She glanced at him and pulled a face, shuddering and wiggling her fingers as though trying to remove all traces of the man's kiss from her hand. She dropped into the chair behind the desk, rooting in her bag for her diary, while Callum settled himself on the sofa along the wall.

"Pinter seems to like you, Han." The Sergeant pointed out, raising an eyebrow and smirking. "That could come in handy if we need a way in to find out more information."

"Eurgh…" She muttered, shaking her head. "Gross…"

Callum laughed at her disgusted expression. "So, what's on the agenda for tonight?"

"We've got Stevie, Jo, Mel and Kirsty and then Terry, Banksy, Rog and Leon tonight." Hannah told him slowly, checking the names she had written in her diary. "Grace has the night off. Stevie and Terry and Jo and Banksy are going out so that they can follow any targets that leave the club. The others are going to keep an eye out in here. Ellie and Ben are coming in too. In fact," she glanced at her phone to check the time, "they should be here any time now."

"I'm starving." The Sergeant announced a couple of moments later. "I'm gonna pop out and get some dinner; d'you want anything?"

"Mmmm… Can you get me a sandwich or something? And I'll love you forever if you get me a coffee."

He grinned and headed to the door. As Callum left, he passed Westlake with a curt nod, leaving the man to settle himself on the sofa that he had just vacated. Hannah glanced up and smiled at the man, before returning her attention to the paperwork she was pretending to go through.

Westlake said nothing for a while, but Hannah was conscious of his gaze fixed to her as she pretended to work. Determined not to speak first, she buried herself in the fake paperwork, scribbling nonsense and flicking through her diary. Occasionally she picked up her iPhone and tapped at the screen, checking the calendar and contacts list.

"So, Hannah…"

"Yes, Jared?" The man seemed to be thinking hard about how to work what he wanted to say. "Spit it out, darling."

"Can you spare a couple of your girls tonight to entertain Oscar and Martin?"

She shook her head quickly and leant back in her chair, thinking. "Sorry, they're all booked up, but I can shuffle things round tomorrow night." Hannah flicked through her diary, thinking as she did so. It would probably be best to put the two Sergeants in the position to find out as much as they could about the two men. "Stevie's free and I can switch Jo's night off. But I'm warning you now, neither do extras."

"Perfect." He agreed with a nod. "Why don't you join us as well; let Ellie be in charge for the night."

Slightly suspicious, she tilted her head to one side. "Why?"

Westlake shrugged. "Just thought you might like a night off. Besides, Oscar is very interested in you."

"And?"

"And you being nice to him would be helpful to me."

Hannah sighed deeply. "I'm not going to sleep with him just so he'll give you a better deal, Jared and neither will Jo or Stevie."

"I'm not asking you to." He replied. "I just want you to flirt a bit."

"Fine." She agreed, almost reluctantly.

The detective in her was reminding her that this would be a perfect opportunity to find out as much as possible about the men behind the proposed gun deal. On a personal level, however, she wasn't looking forward to being in such close proximity to her partner and not being able to make it obvious where her affections lay, let alone having to flirt with Westlake, Pinter and Field all night. She briefly wondered whether she was going to get another dressing down for agreeing to Westlake's request without talking it through with DS Carter first, but Hannah found she didn't care much. He could say what he wanted, but she knew that this would be the best way of finding out anything. With a few drinks inside them and the promise of what could possibly happen next – but definitely wouldn't – she didn't doubt that all three men would be boasting about their connections and achievements before too long without the three officers having to say or do very much at all.

A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts and she glanced up as Westlake called for whoever was outside to come in. As Jo, Stevie, Mel and Kirsty appeared, Hannah shot the man a meaningful glance and he stood up, leering at the women as he passed and closed the office door behind him.

"Eurgh…" Mel muttered, pulling a face of complete disgust as she dropped heavily onto the sofa. "He gives me the creeps."

"Be thankful that you don't have to work with him, then." Hannah told her, leaning back in her desk chair and resting her hands on her stomach. "Right, Stevie, tonight you're with Terry and Jo you're with Banksy. The four of you are going to be out in cars waiting for the targets to leave. Kirsty you're going to be with Leon and Mel you'll be with Roger."

"Great…" Kirsty muttered, rolling her eyes. "It's not funny, you know?"

Hannah looked innocently back at her. "What isn't?"

"You trying to be a matchmaker." The blonde replied.

"I'm doing nothing of the sort. If it bothers you that much, you can swap with Mel and partner Roger."

Kirsty shook her head, blushing slightly. "Nah, it's alright."

The other women exchanged a meaningful look, but said nothing more. Instead Jo asked about the surveillance she and the others were supposed to be carrying out in cars outside the club. She wanted to know how Hannah knew Pinter and Field would be there in the first place and how she knew they would leave before the end of the night.

"I don't." The red-head admitted. "I just wanted you four to sit in the cars all night." When her girlfriend rolled her eyes, Hannah continued. "No, seriously, I don't know that they'll be here or that they'll leave, but it's where DS Carter wants you."

After a couple of moments where the topic of conversation switched to the previous night's episode of _Eastenders_, which most of them seemed to have recorded and watched between the Superintendent's briefing and coming into the club, Callum opened the office door and handed Hannah the sandwich and coffee she'd asked him to pick up. Accepting it gratefully with a smile of thanks, she took a bite, only realising just how hungry she was at that moment.

"Oh, Stevie, Jo… can I have a quick word?" She asked as the other women and Callum made to leave the office. They nodded and sat on the sofa again as Hannah replaced her half eaten sandwich in the packaging and leant forward in her seat. "Tomorrow night Westlake's asked if the three of us will 'entertain' him, Pinter and Field."

"Really?" Stevie asked, arching an eyebrow.

Hannah nodded, before grimacing. "Yeah… apparently if I'm nice to Pinter it will help the deal."

"What d'you mean by nice?" Jo demanded, frowning at her partner.

"Flirting." The red-head said firmly. "I made it very clear that no one would be sleeping with anyone."

"Does DS Carter know about this? Or the Guv?" Stevie asked, looking as though she already knew what Hannah's answer would be. Indeed, the look that the red-head shot her made it very clear that she hadn't got round to telling them yet.


	16. Chapter 16

The DI and the Superintendent thought that Hannah, Jo and Stevie spending the evening with Westlake, Pinter and Field was a good idea and they would be sure to get some information. Even if they didn't, it would give them a clearer insight into the three men and give them something more to work with than they already had. DS Carter, on the other hand, was furious with Hannah for making the decision without consulting him first.

He waited until Wednesday's briefing had ended before laying into the woman. Their argument could be heard throughout CID and after a couple of minutes Neil interrupted, sending Hannah to get ready to go to Westlake's club before warning Max that if he couldn't act professionally he would take him off the case and find someone else to handle Hannah. Even though she knew it was completely childish, the red-head shot her superior a smug smirk as she left the office, heading quickly out of the station so that she could pop home and see the children before heading to meet Westlake.

Hannah was momentarily confused when she opened the door and spotted Abi's coat on the banisters, but decided that she must be visiting. It turned out, however, that Freya was nowhere to be found and the young Nixon had picked the children up from school and was babysitting. She hadn't given a real reason why the detective's sister wasn't there and Hannah could tell that she was lying when Abi said that Freya had just popped to the supermarket.

Popping upstairs to pick up a couple more outfits, Hannah rolled her eyes at the state of her bedroom when left in the sole control of Jo. The bed was unmade and the duvet was half on the floor, the wardrobe doors were open and the mountain of clothes on the chair in the corner was so high that it was threatening to topple over. It seemed that almost all of Jo's shoes had found their way across the bedroom floor with no desire to return to their rightful place in the bottom of the cupboard. With a sigh, the red-head couldn't help herself tidying the mess away until the room looked as tidy as it had been before she'd left.

"Can you ask Freya to phone me when she gets back?" Hannah asked Abi as she dashed back down the stairs with a holdall crammed full of clothes. She was determined to get to the bottom of what was going on with her sister, but also incredibly conscious that she was running late. "Thanks, Abs."

Giving the blonde a quick hug, she rushed out of the house and threw her bag into the boot, before driving as fast as was legally possibly towards Westlake's club. Callum greeted her with a raised eyebrow and a meaningful glance at his watch, before Hannah shook her head and pushed past him through the doors.

"You all set for this evening?" The Sergeant asked in a low voice as they made their way into the office and Callum closed the door firmly.

"Yes, Sarge." She agreed, nodding determinedly. "All we have to do is ask the right questions and listen to the answers. There's bound to be a load of bullshit and macho crap, but if we can get past that I reckon we'll be able to find out some useful information tonight."

He nodded. "Good. I heard you had another run-in with Max."

"The bloody idiot is just pissed off that I didn't ask his permission." Hannah replied with a shrug. "We can handle this, Sarge."

"I don't doubt it. If anything, I pity them with you three on their case."

"I hope your faith isn't misplaced."

He looked at her curiously, but didn't say anything. He wasn't used to hearing any sort of doubt from the red-head and this was the first time she'd hinted at any misgivings about this particular operation. Callum nodded and swapped places with Hannah so that he could go over the CCTV footage from the previous night. While he was on the computer, she pulled out her mobile and dialled Freya's number. It rang several times before going to answerphone. When she redialled, it went straight to the answerphone without even ringing.

"Problem?" Callum asked as he glanced up to see the woman glaring at her mobile.

"No… well… nothing related to the case."

"Anything you want to talk about?" He asked, looking a little uncomfortable at the prospect.

Hannah grinned. "Really?" She chuckled at the expression on his face. "No, don't worry about it. It's probably just me overreacting."

"Good… now we know the deal is happening the day after tomorrow, right?" Callum asked, changing the topic of conversation quickly. "But we still don't know when or where."

"I know. That's what we really need to find out tonight. Although how we're going to do that I have no idea; it's not exactly the sort of thing that comes up in conversation or you can ask about without attracting suspicion. Any ideas?"

Callum shook his head slowly, leaning back in the chair. "Is there any other way we can get that information? Would he have written it down anywhere?"

"I doubt it. He doesn't even discuss business over email or the phone because it can be traced and linked back to him." Hannah sighed. She reached over to the desk and picked up a black book, flicking through it quickly and shaking her head. "Nothing on Tuesday. We know that he met Pinter and Field yesterday evening, but the only thing written in his diary is 'dentist 9:15'. There isn't even mention of our meetings. This could be anyone's diary."

"So we've got nothing?"

"Yeah, alright!" Hannah groaned. "You're starting to sound like Max."

"Sorry."

The red-head shook her head, standing up and starting to pace. "No, you're right. We have got nothing. This is so frustrating!"

"It just means that tonight really has to count." Callum replied. Spotting the expression on her face, he sighed. "Come on, Hannah. Don't lose your bottle now."

"I'm not… I haven't." She assured him. "I just don't know how…"

"Play it by ear; you'll figure it out. And if you don't Jo or Stevie will come up with something."

x-x

"Evening, gentlemen." Hannah said smoothly later that night as she, Jo and Stevie settled themselves into the booth where Westlake, Pinter and Field had taken up residence earlier. She introduced the other women before Westlake stood and moved to get them drinks from the bar.

Instantly Hannah found herself on edge. Pinter seemed to have switched his attentions to Jo which, apart from sparking the red-head's jealousy as her girlfriend flirted back, dented her ego slightly. Stevie smirked at her, glancing across from where she was chatting flirtatiously with Field, no doubt realising what the expression on her friend's face meant. Westlake, too, was grinning at her, watching as Hannah almost glared at Pinter.

"You jealous, Ms Edwards?" He asked, leaning towards the woman and whispering in her ear.

Hannah jumped slightly and shook her head, rearranging her expression into something less incriminating. "I don't know what you mean."

"Really?"

She fixed him with a fierce look. "This is purely professional, Jared, darling. You know that I keep personal and professional completely separate. Now, if you don't mind I'd like another drink."


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning, Hannah's temper was even more volatile than usual. She'd drunk more than she'd intended to the night before and that, coupled with the company they'd been keeping, had put her in a bad mood. Her mood wasn't improved by the conversation she'd just had with Jared Westlake, either.

With a sigh, Hannah found Neil's number in her phone's contacts list and clicked the call button, waiting uneasily for it to connect. She was impatient as it rang and rang, before she finally heard the Detective Inspector's harassed tones on the other end of the line.

"DI Manson. Hannah, what d'you want?"

"Nice to speak to you, too, Guv." The red-head muttered, rolling her eyes. "Pinter's asked to book Jo for tonight… what do I do?"

"What have you said? I'm assuming Westlake asked you about it?"

"Yeah… I said that she was booked up and I'd have to speak to her."

Neil exhaled sharply and Hannah leant forwards, resting her elbows on the desk and running the hand that wasn't clutching her mobile through her hair. She knew that Neil would probably tell her to ask Jo's opinion on the idea and the brunette Sergeant, being as dedicated and annoying as she was, would not even consider turning down the request if there was any chance she might be able to get something out of him. The fact that he apparently wasn't used to being told no to anything he wanted set her nerves on edge and the idea of Jo being alone with him made her feel physically sick. The length of time it was taking her boss to deliberate the issue indicated that he was also uncomfortable at the prospect.

"I think we need to talk about this properly. Can you come into the station?"

Hannah didn't raise her head, resting her forehead on her free hand. "I've got a few things to do here, but I should be able to come back in about half an hour. I won't be able to stay long, though."

"Has Westlake got another meeting tonight?"

"Yeah, a big one."

"OK. The quicker you get here, the quicker you can get back to the club and keep an eye on what's happening."

She nodded, leaning back in the chair and exhaling deeply, her eyes closed as sudden tiredness threatened to overwhelm her. "Alright, I'll do my best. I'll see you as soon as I can get away."

Hanging up, she dropped the phone onto the desk and ran her hands through her hair again, thinking hard. It wasn't until the office door was closed with a bang, that she opened her eyes and glanced over towards the sound. Westlake was watching her, a smirk twisting his lips as his eyes flicked over her in a way she really didn't like.

"Problem?" She asked, not in the mood for whatever game he was about to start.

"Who was that?"

"No one important."

Lunging forward, Westlake grabbed her mobile. Hannah was a split second too late to prevent him grabbing the device. She swore as he moved backwards, pulling up the call log and checking the name on her last conversation.

"Who's Neil?" He asked with a smirk. Then his eyes widened. "Is he your business partner? Maybe I should give him a ring?"

Knowing that Neil would answer the phone with his rank and unintentionally give the whole game away, Hannah panicked slightly, thinking on her feet. "No! No. Neil's not my business partner. He's… he's my fiancé."

As soon as the words had left her mouth, the red-head mentally kicked herself. For one thing, Max would kill her for changing her backstory yet again. For another thing, she now had to pretend to be engaged to the DI and deal with the consequences of announcing that to Westlake. She could imagine the expression on her colleagues' faces when they found out what she'd done.

"Your fiancé?" Westlake's eyes were so wide Hannah wouldn't have been surprised if they'd rolled out of his head. "Well, well, well… and there was me thinking you and the tom were together."

Hannah thought quickly. "Jo? Nah… that's just a bit of fun."

"So you're having an affair?"

Almost able to see the cogs whirring in his mind and realising that he was planning what to do with the new information, the woman shrugged. "It's not an affair. It… it's… it's a perk of the job."

"So it's not just Jo, then?"

"Eh?

"You've got an arrangement with all of the girls, haven't you?" He grinned at her and shook his head coming up with his own theories. "You're a dark horse, Hannah Edwards."

"What? No!" She almost squeaked in indignation.

Apparently Hannah's tone and the expression on her face were doing nothing to convince Westlake that she was telling the truth and he chuckled delightedly, obviously revelling in the fact that he had her flustered. "You do, don't you?"

"No, Jared, I don't." Hannah snapped at him.

"What's this information worth, Hannah?" He asked, folding his arms and smirking at her. "What would you offer me in return for not telling your fiancé what you're up to?"

"I'm not up to anything, Jared, so you can tell Neil whatever you want."

He looked at her for a moment, before shrugging and tapping at the screen of the phone. "Fine."

Suddenly remembering that her cover would be blown, along with the entire operation, if Westlake made that phone call, Hannah stepped forward instinctively. "Wait."

"What?"

"What d'you want?" She asked with a sigh, looking at him angrily. The knowledge that she had, somehow, single-handedly managed to mess up the operation was making Hannah panicky. Suddenly her need to prove that she was just as good as Max was back with a vengeance.

"Firstly, I need proof that you're not lying and you're not having an affair with Jo."

Hannah frowned, not understanding what he meant. "Why? How?"

"If it is an affair, then I think your fiancé will be slightly more annoyed than if you're just messing around and I reckon you'll be willing to offer more to buy my silence." Westlake told her in a low voice. "So I need you to prove that your arrangement doesn't just apply to Jo."

The officer felt hot, angry tears spring to her eyes as she realised that she was being backed into a corner. "What d'you want to keep your mouth shut?"

"We'll work that out later." He said copying Neil's number into his mobile, before pushing Hannah's phone across the desk towards her.

"How do I know you won't phone Neil and say something?"

"Because at the moment keeping my mouth shut is working in my favour."

"What's to stop me just telling him myself?" Hannah asked, slightly desperately.

Westlake looked her up and down quickly. "You won't do that. By the terrified expression on your face you've got far too much to lose if I make that phone call."

"Alright, fine." Hannah snapped, hoping that agreeing would give her a chance to think about what she could do to get herself out of this situation. At least it would give her a chance to speak to the DI.

Grinning at her, Westlake dropped into the chair behind the desk. "I'll be watching you, Han."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." The woman replied angrily, stalking out of the office.

She stormed along the corridor and into the main room of the club, leaning on the bar and ordering vodka, straight, from the barmaid. Downing it quickly, she signalled for the woman to refill the glass, the liquid rapidly disappearing before Hannah slammed the glass back down on the surface and took a breath.

"Hey? What's wrong?" At the sound of Jo's low, concerned tone Hannah almost lost what tiny grasp on control she had left. "Han? Has something happened?"

"I… there's been… oh, god." The red-head squeezed her eyes closed and breathed deeply. "I've fucked up. Is Stevie around?"

Jo nodded, furrowing her eyebrows in concern at her partner's words. "What d'you mean you've fucked up? What's happened?"

"I just… I'll tell you later. I need to speak to Stevie."

"She's over there with Grace." The brunette replied, realising that Hannah was being deadly serious.

Smiling weakly, the younger woman touched her arm as she passed, collecting the blonde from the table she was sitting at and almost dragging her through the door from the main area of the club to the corridor that ran along the back. Nervously, wondering whether her friend was about to slap her, Hannah opened the door to one of the store rooms and pushed Stevie inside.

Moving them to where she knew they would be seen by the CCTV cameras, the red-head took a deep breath before speaking in a low voice. "Listen, you're my best mate and I need your help. I'll explain properly later, but if you don't kiss me right now we're in big trouble."

"That's the worst chat up line I've ever heard." Stevie replied, raising an eyebrow at her friend's words.

"Trust me; I never thought I'd resort to saying something like that. Just... pretend this isn't the weirdest thing ever, OK?"

There was a moment where the two women looked at each other. Stevie's eyes widened slightly as she saw the anxious look that had appeared in Hannah's. Evidently deciding that the red-haired officer wasn't messing around, the blonde nodded sharply before closing the gap between them and raising her face to Hannah's so that she could kiss her.

Knowing that it would have to look convincing if Westlake was going to believe it, Hannah tangled her hands in Stevie's hair and pressed her against the cupboard behind them. She allowed her hands to run down the blonde's sides, sliding round her back and pulling their bodies closer together. Acutely aware of Stevie's hands and lips and tongue, Hannah pulled back quickly and smiled weakly at her.

"Sorry…"

Her friend sighed and shook her head, frowning in concern. "What's going on, Han?"


	18. Chapter 18

After explaining everything to Stevie, Hannah went through the whole thing again after the Detective Sergeant went to fetch Jo to try and calm the red-head down. The three of them realised that the only thing they could do now was go and explain everything to the DI and the Superintendent. Hannah was terrified that this would be one mistake too many, but her friend and partner assured her that it wasn't her fault; she hadn't known that Westlake was listening to her conversation and she'd thought on her feet to prevent the whole operation collapsing.

The meeting with the DI and Superintendent was just as awkward as Hannah had expected it would be. As she'd explained what had happened, blushing at the part that involved Stevie, they had looked back stonily at her. Wringing her hands in her lap, the Detective waited for their verdict; convinced she was about to be fired.

"Well, obviously, we'll have to call off the operation. It's too risky to leave Hannah in there now." Neil said, exhaling and frowning at the thought of all the hard work that would go down the drain.

"Wait a minute," Jack strode around his office thinking, "Westlake thinks that Hannah is terrified he's going to phone you and tell him about Jo, right? Well we have the advantage in that you already know that Hannah's in a relationship with Jo, so even if he does ring you it doesn't matter."

"Yes, Sir, but I don't see..."

"So now Hannah has a reason to pretend to go along with whatever Westlake says without arguing. She can change tactics without it being suspicious. That might mean we get more information." The Superintendent explained. "If he thinks he's in control he's more likely to slip up."

"Right... so I let him think he's in the driving seat." Hannah hesitated. "But what about Jo spending the evening with Pinter?"

Jack rubbed his chin. "You'll have to say yes. Jo's more than capable of handling anything Pinter might throw at her."

"Yes, Sir." Hannah agreed with a nod. "I'll tell Westlake that they have to stay in the club. He probably won't like it, but that's tough."

Neil nodded and stood up. "OK... I need to get over to the crime scene on Hailsham Road." He glanced at his watch, before looking across at Hannah. "I can drop you off at Westlake's club if you want."

Remembering that she'd left her car there and come to the station with Stevie, the Detective Constable nodded and stood up. "Thanks, darling. By the way, when do I get my engagement ring?"

"Don't push it." Jack told her, failing to conceal a smirk. "I'll let Max know what's going on." Seeing the expression on his DCs face, the Superintendent raised an eyebrow. "I'll sort it."

Trusting her boss to smooth things over with DS Carter, although being under no illusions that she wouldn't be in for a rough ride when he caught up with her, Hannah followed Neil down the stairs and out into the yard. They had almost reached Westlake's club when the Detective Inspector spoke.

"I think we need to go with the idea that I don't know what your business entails if we're going to make this work." He said, resolutely not looking at her. Hannah knew that he was highly uncomfortable about pretending to be her fiancé; not that she was particularly happy about it either. "As far as I'm concerned you're a bar manager."

"Yes, Guv." She agreed meekly. "But there's no reason why Westlake has to meet you anyway; he knows that I keep business and my personal life separate in general."

"Good. I think Jack's right about being able to use this to our advantage, though. If you keep playing along he might just let something slip that we'll be able to use. The deal is happening tomorrow so we need some information that will help us find out when and where and what's going to happen. We don't even really know who's involved."

The red-head nodded and undid her seat belt as Neil pulled up on the curb outside the club. She sighed, turning to face him. "I know. I think Jo might be able to get something from Pinter tonight and I'll work on Westlake."

Not meeting her eyes, the DI nodded. "Is that Westlake there?" He asked suddenly, motioning towards the main entrance to the building.

"Yeah… and that's Martin Field with him; you know, the gun expert he's brought in."

"Did you know they were meeting this afternoon?"

"No, Guv." Hannah shook her head and frowned lightly. "They were both supposed to be meeting Pinter tonight. Westlake wanted Jo to meet him afterwards."

Glancing sideways at the tone that she used to speak the last sentence, Neil raised an eyebrow. "Well he's definitely just spotted us."

"Great…" The woman kept her gaze on the DI, rather than turning to look at the man watching them, knowing that doing so would alert him to the fact that they were discussing him. "Is he still watching?"

"Mmm… Field's just leaving now, but Westlake seems to be waiting for you."

Hannah frowned. "Give it another couple of minutes…"

They stayed in the car for almost ten minutes, but Westlake didn't make any sign of moving away from the entrance to the club. He leant casually against the wall smoking and finally the officers decided that there was no choice but for Hannah to leave the car. She glanced awkwardly at her superior.

"It's going to look a bit odd if I just get out, isn't it?" She muttered, feeling her cheeks growing hot at what she was suggesting. Beside her, Neil frowned slightly.

"Yeah…"

Wishing the ground would swallow her up, Hannah leant in and kissed the DI quickly, before turning and opening the car door. She was out in a second, bending down to speak to him. "Oh, I almost forgot. I had you down to come in with Mel tonight, so you'll need to switch things around."

"Of course… see you later."

She smiled and crossed to the pavement and waved as Neil drove away. The smile dropped slightly as she turned and headed towards the club, meeting Westlake's eyes. He smirked as she reached his side and dropped his cigarette end on the ground, stamping on it as he reached out to pull the door open for her. Hannah shot him a quick smile which didn't reach her eyes, pushing past into the club and looking around quickly in the hope that there would be someone there she could go and speak to.

"So that was Neil the fiancé, eh?" Westlake murmured as they crossed the room. "He's not what I expected if I'm honest. He looks a little... dull... to have inspired you to settle down at last. What does he do? Is he an accountant?"

Hannah scowled at him, thinking back to the updated cover story that had been created for her. "He's a property developer, if you must know. And he's not dull. He's just sensible, which is exactly what I need."

As she spoke, she couldn't help thinking how true those words were when applied to her real relationship; Jo was sensible and she did need her. Well, the red-head frowned slightly, Jo was usually sensible. Hannah wasn't entirely sure what had got into her partner lately. The older woman just seemed to keep getting them into trouble; from making her late for work on more than one occasion to kissing her in the corridor and almost jeopardising the operation. It didn't bother Hannah, if anything she rather like the more impulsive Jo, but she couldn't work out why there had been a sudden change.

x-x

"Are you sure you're OK with this?" Hannah asked worriedly as she checked the position of Jo's wire for about the sixth time. Catching the expression on her partner's face, the red-head smiled. "I know, I know. But I'm allowed to worry, aren't I?"

"I'd be concerned if you didn't." Jo told her with a grin. "But I'm fine about it, really."

"OK, so you know what you need to get from him; times, places, names. I have absolutely no idea how you're going to manage it, but if anyone can it's you. Jack and Neil will be listening in on the conversation from the van in the alley, Callum and I will be in here watching the CCTV and the others will be dotted around the club."

Jo arched an eyebrow and smirked. "And you'll be popping out of the office to check on me?"

"Well, if Ellie wants to come in and watch the CCTV at some point and I happen to be out in the main room…" Hannah replied, her eyes twinkling in amusement. "Don't worry, I know better than to interfere."

There was a knock on the door and it opened. Ellie smiled at the two women and nodded her head over her shoulder into the darkness of the corridor behind her and the main room beyond that.

"He's here." She said quickly, moving into the room and shutting the door so that most of the noise was blocked out and she could speak in a lower voice. "Westlake's talking to him at the bar."

Determinedly, the brunette nodded and moved past her, pausing with her hand on the handle. "I totally disapprove of that skirt, Miss McKay."

"Sorry, Mum." The younger red-head replied with a smirk. "In future I'll only wear ones that come to at least my knees."

"Focus!" Hannah commanded, looking between them fondly. Then she sighed and looked at Jo seriously. "Off you go, then. Good luck."

Winking, Jo left the office. The two McKays looked at each other for a moment, before Ellie smiled, nodded and followed her step-mother's route into the main room of the club. Dropping into the desk chair and bringing up the feed quickly. She watched as Jo crossed the room and approached Westlake and Pinter. A soft, involuntary, annoyed growl escaped from Hannah's mouth as she saw the older man put his hand proprietorially on Jo's lower back and lean towards the barmaid, signalling for attention.

"Problem?" Callum asked, appearing through the office door at that moment and raising an eyebrow at the sound that greeted him.

She shook her head. "Nothing. Pinter's just such a letch."

The Sergeant smiled and nodded, not disagreeing with her description, but didn't comment. After a couple of moments, Westlake shook Pinter's hand and walked away, leaving the man alone with Jo. Hannah minimised the feed as the office door opened and Westlake walked in, smiling at her and picking up a pile of paperwork. He settled himself on the sofa and started looking over the club accounts, not noticing the look that passed between the two officers. Shrugging, Hannah brought up the feed once more and studied it carefully. It took a couple of minutes switching between the images from the different camera to work out where Jo and Pinter had gone, but she finally spotted them in a booth not far from where Leon was sitting with Mel.

Pulling out her mobile, she sent them a message to see whether they could hear what was being said. After a minute a reply came through informing her that it was too loud and they couldn't get any closer without attracting attention. She passed the phone quickly to Callum and he read the message and nodded, handing it back.

Spotting that Westlake was surreptitiously watching them under the pretence of looking over his paperwork, Hannah flipped open her diary. "So we can schedule that in, right?"

Callum frowned at her for a moment, as his colleague kept her gaze steadily trained on his, trying to telepathically get him to play along with her. "Oh, yeah, I think so; as long as it doesn't last too long.

Hannah frowned slightly and rolled her eyes at him, scribbling something in her diary. Her mobile vibrated against the desk and she checked the message from Stevie quickly. _'Just overheard P saying something about 11pm tomorrow. Not sure what it was about though. S'_ Again she showed her Sergeant the message, before looking back at the CCTV footage, trying to find out where Stevie and Banksy were, spotting them in the booth next to Jo and Pinter's.

"Sounds good." Callum nodded at her, passing the phone back.

This comment obviously caught Westlake's attention, because he glanced up sharply. His eyes narrowed as he looked between Hannah and Callum, putting two and two together and making twenty. "So it's not just the girls, then?"

Hannah exhaled sharply. "Can you give us a minute, Callum?"

He nodded and left the office quickly, pulling out his phone as he went. The woman guessed that he was going to phone the DI or the Superintendent to check they'd heard the same as Stevie. When they were alone, Hannah got to her feet and moved around the desk angrily.

"Just drop it, Jared." She ordered. "There is absolutely nothing going on between me and Callum. Look, what is it that you want? To keep your mouth shut, I mean?"

"I thought we could have a little chat about my role in your business, for starters."

"You have no role in my business." Hannah reminded him frostily.

He smirked. "Yet."

"Oh, so you'll stay away from Neil if I let you have a share in the business?"

"I don't want a share in it, Hannah, I want a say in it."

Frowning, Hannah walked back round the desk and dropped into the chair agitatedly. She stared at the CCTV for a moment, grinding her teeth as she considered her answer. "No, Jared. We discussed this before."

"Then I'll phone Neil."

"What exactly would you having a say in the business entail?" She asked wearily.

"What we discussed the other day, about prostitutes…"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because we don't need to, Jared."

"We'd earn more money, wouldn't we?" He pressed. "It makes business sense."

Hannah clenched her hands into fists out of sight under the desk. "So what?"

"That's the deal, Hannah. We expand the business, or I phone your fiancé." Westlake told her firmly. "Do you need time to think about it?"

Remembering what she'd been told in the briefing about letting Westlake think he was in control of the situation, Hannah sighed and nodded. "Fine. But you can handle that side of it. I want nothing to do with that."

He shrugged. "I'll sort it, make arrangements and that, but you're going to have to do the organisation afterwards. I'm far too busy to get bogged down in details and rotas."

She frowned as he left the office, closing the door firmly behind him. Glaring at the computer screen, the red-haired detective watched his progress through the club to the bar, where he ordered a drink and surveyed the room. A couple of moments later, Callum reappeared, obviously having noticed Westlake leaving and deciding to find out what the conversation had been about.

Spotting the expression on her face, the Sergeant warily asked what was wrong. Hannah told him snappily, before resting her head on her arms on the surface of the desk and letting out a long groan.

"Don't worry about it, Han." Callum told her calmly. "We've got the information we need on the deal and this time tomorrow Westlake will be in a cell down the nick. There won't be an expansion and you can stop pretending to be the dodgy businesswoman."

"It can't come soon enough." Hannah muttered. "I keep making mistakes and he's just so… eurgh."


	19. Chapter 19

"What's going on?" Mel muttered as she followed Ellie into the briefing on Friday evening. The shifts had been extended because of the raid that was due to take place that evening and everyone was slightly subdued by the long hours they had been working lately. At least, they decided, the overtime was worth it.

The younger woman shrugged, stifling a yawn and dropping into a seat between Mel and Kirsty. Both her friends were wearing their uniforms but Ellie, who had been pulled off shift for the duration of the operation, was wearing jeans and a hoody. She stuffed her hands into the pocket of her jumper and slid down in the chair.

"You must know!"

"Why?" Ellie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because your Mum's up there with Smithy and the Super and I bet she's told you what all this is about." Mel pressed, not willing to believe that her friend didn't know what was happening.

"This is the first time I've seen her since the club. She must have been there until at least three last night because I was asleep when she got in and she left before I woke up, if she came home at all. It must be something pretty big for her to be functioning on so little sleep." Ellie replied in a low voice. "It's got to be to do with the deal, hasn't it?"

The young red-haired PC glanced towards the front of the briefing room and caught her mother's attention. Hannah looked exhausted; bags underneath her eyes and paler than normal skin evident beneath the layers of makeup she had used to attempt to hide her fatigue. The woman smiled weakly at her daughter, taking a long gulp of her coffee, craving the caffeine, before putting the cup down and taking a step forward.

"Right, guys," she said, looking around at the assembled officers as the chatter died down at once, "last night Sergeant Masters discovered that the deal is due to take place at 11pm this evening at the Dainol Industrial Estate off Collins Road."

"How'd she manage that?" Mel muttered out of the side of her mouth, keeping her gazed fixed on the Detective Constable at the front of the room.

Ellie smirked. "Jo may prefer women, but she can work her magic on anyone."

Frowning slightly as she heard muttering, Hannah paused. "There are 15 units on the Dainol Estate and we don't know which one will be used for the exchange. Therefore," she tapped the board behind her and brought up a plan of the Estate, "our best option is to cover all four entrances," she pointed to each in turn, "and try to detain the suspects on their way out."

"Do we know how many suspects will be there?" Grace asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Three; Pinter selling, Westlake buying and Field checking the weapons to ensure the deal goes smoothly." She smiled tightly. "And I'll be there as well." Ellie sat up in her seat, frowning at her mother's words. "Westlake wants me to go along with him; a glamorous assistant, if you will."

Smithy smiled slightly and stepped forwards, folding his arms. "Now were going to have armed units at all four entrances. Banksy and Grace will be stationed here with four uniform cars. Stevie and Max will take this entrance with another four units. Terry and Mickey will be here and DI Manson will cover this back entrance." The Inspector pointed to the entrance nearest the main road. "We think it's most likely that they'll leave through here, so that's where the majority of the units will be placed. Of course we can't rule out the other entrances, they may decide to play it safe. However there's no indication that they have any suspicions that they've been found out."

"We've got two hours before the deal is set to take place." Jack said gruffly. "No mistakes; no casualties. Remember, Hannah will be in there undercover. She will need to be arrested along with Westlake and the others to ensure her safety." Glancing around, the Superintendent nodded. "Right, thank you everyone."

As the assembled members of Uniform and CID filed out, Hannah and Callum stayed behind with Neil, Max, Smithy and Jack. Ellie shot her mother a curious look, earning herself a smile in return, before Hannah turned away and resumed her conversation with her superiors.

"As soon as the deal is done, say 'I hope you know what you're doing' and we'll know to be ready." Neil told Hannah seriously.

"Yes, Guv. D'you want me to let you know which unit we're in?"

Jack nodded. "It'll give us a clearer idea of which direction you'll be coming from."

"Sir. I'd better–" she broke off as her mobile began to ring, pulling it out of her pocket and glancing at the display. "Westlake." She told her colleagues, before accepting the call. "Jared, hi. What's– hang on, calm down! Jared wha– I can't underst– no. No, listen... I'm on my way."

"What's going on?" Max demanded before she had the chance to say anything.

"Westlake says Pinter's changed the deal. He won't give him a sample anymore; it's the whole lot or nothing. That's twenty guns."

Callum frowned. "What does he want for them?"

"The same as he was paying for the sample; a grand a piece."

"Is Pinter expecting Westlake to find twenty thousand pounds by 11pm tonight?" Neil asked astonished.

Hannah shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "No, Guv, he's extended the deadline 'til next Wednesday; same time, same place. Westlake wants me to get back there and help him with something." She glanced at Callum with distaste. "I have a horrible feeling it's that expansion he was talking about."

As Callum and Hannah briefly outlined the new ultimatum Westlake had given the woman, Smithy, who had already been filled in by his Sergeant, headed away to inform CID and Uniform that the raid was off. Jack and Neil told Hannah that she had no choice but to go along with Westlake's plans, but Max was glaring at her as though he thought the sudden changes were her fault. Exhausted, frustrated and not looking forward to spending any more time undercover, Hannah was definitely not in the mood for any of his snide comments or allegations on her ability to do her job. As soon as she was given the nod, the red-head almost dragged Callum down to the car to head back to the club.

As Hannah had feared, Westlake had wanted her to help him find prostitutes to work out of the club. While Hannah knew that she couldn't refuse to run the newly-extended business, she could definitely refuse to be actively involved in drawing the girls into the profession in the first place. Telling Westlake of her decision and informing him that she had given her girls the night off and would see him in the morning, the red-head turned on her heels and left the club, leaving Callum to follow in her wake.

"Go home, get some sleep and we'll tackle this tomorrow, alright?" He told her, much more gently than she was accustomed to from the usually gruff Sergeant.

Hannah nodded and squeezed his arm, before walking across the car park and getting into her car. Ellie had texted to say she was going out with her friends seeing as the raid had been called off and, as she had no desire to go back to an empty flat, Hannah decided to go home and see Jo and the kids. She was in no mood to be alone tonight.

When she and Jo were alone, Hannah sighed and snuggled into her side, revelling in the normality of the moment.

"You're going to have to break cover and collect the kids from school on Monday afternoon." Jo told her quietly, tracing patterns on the red-head's arm with her fingers.

Hannah frowned sleepily. "Why?"

"I've got an appointment, Freya's got to meet someone and Ellie's got to go into the station for a briefing." The older woman said, ignoring the slightly indignant expression on her partner's face.

"What about your parents?"

"Mum and Dad are going to stay with Susan for a couple of days and then they're going to Caro's."

"They pick the worst times to go and visit your sisters." Hannah muttered, stifling a yawn. "When are they back?"

Jo grinned at her. "They're back on Sunday; don't worry, babysitting services will resume when they're back. So you'll have to work something out or collect the kids yourself. Don't forget!"

"I won't…" Her girlfriend replied, rolling her eyes at the insinuation that she might not remember and that the only reason she was interested in her girlfriend's parents being away was that there wouldn't be anyone to watch the children. Then she frowned. "What's your appointment for and who is Freya meeting? Why's everyone got secrets from me all of a sudden?"

"It's nothing, sweetheart." Jo replied, not meeting her eyes.

Suddenly worried, the red-headed detective reached out and grasped her girlfriend's hand tightly. "Jo, what are you hiding? Are you ill or something? Please, tell me."

Jo sighed. "I'm just going for some tests, Han. It's nothing to worry about, I promise."

"Tests? What tests?"

As Hannah started panicking, her partner realised that she would have to explain properly and shuffled slightly on the sofa so she was facing her. "I've been thinking for a while now that… well… that I want to have a baby of my own." She paused, wincing slightly at the completely confused and slightly hurt expression on Hannah's face. "Let's face it; I'm not getting any younger and if I don't do something soon then it's going to be too late."

"Why didn't you tell me that you felt like that?" Jo sighed at the pained expression on the younger woman's face. "I thought you were happy."

"I am happy. I'm so, so happy and you know that I adore the kids and I think of them as my own. I just… I want to have a baby before it's too late."

"When were you going to tell me about this? What are these tests for? Are you already pregnant? Were you going to wait until you couldn't hide it anymore before telling me?"

"No. No of course not. I wouldn't go anywhere near that far without telling you." Jo promised, reaching out to tuck Hannah's hair behind her ear and smiling weakly as she was bombarded with questions. "I'm just going to have some tests done to see whether I can get pregnant. I was going to tell you when this stuff with Westlake was finished; I didn't want you to compromise your safety by thinking about all this and not keeping your mind on the case."

"Jo… we're supposed to be a couple. We're supposed to talk about these things. I can't believe you didn't tell me." Hannah stood sharply and looked down at her girlfriend.

"It's not like you've never kept things from me or made decisions on your own." The older woman retorted in annoyance, standing too and moving towards Hannah.

"This isn't making a decision about whether to let the kids have a pet or forgetting to tell you that I'd booked a holiday." Hannah pointed out, turning and fixing her with a glare. "This is huge, Jo. This is a baby. We've already got seven kids to think about."

The brunette shook her head. "Ellie and Freya aren't kids anymore, Hannah. They're adults with their own lives to live. Max has two more years at school and then he'll be off to University or getting a job."

"You don't just stop looking after them because they grow up."

"I know that, but you can't use them as an excuse." Jo told her. She sighed and retreated to sit heavily on the sofa. "I take it you don't want another baby."

There was a long pause. Hannah leant against the wall wearily, before turning and sitting beside Jo. She stared at the surface of the coffee table for a couple of moments, before reaching out and taking the brunette's hand in hers. "I never said that, sweetheart. It was just a shock, that's all, and I wish you'd told me how you felt before."

"I'm sorry…" Jo replied, sighing. "So… does this mean…"

Hannah smiled weakly at her. "I don't know. It's going to take me a while to get my head around the idea. But what was it you said to me when we found out I was pregnant with Cait? A baby seems a really stupid thing to lose you over? Well that seems pretty true to me."

"I love you." Leaning forwards, Jo captured her partner's face in her hands and kissed her deeply.

"I love you too." Was the breathless response, quickly followed by another kiss. "And I'm going to see if Sam or Abi can pick up the kids on Monday so that I can come to the clinic with you. It doesn't seem right for you to go on your own, babe. Besides I want to be there. I've got to start getting used to the fact that we might be having another mouth to feed."

* * *

_**A/N: Hello lovelies! Thank you for reading and thank you to **_**Anastasia Dove**_** for your reviews! :D**_

_**I've just created a twitter to post about updates and things, so if you're interested it's TheSerenBex :)**_

_**x**_


	20. Chapter 20

The next morning, Hannah strode out of the office and along the corridor to the main room of the club. She spotted Ellie sitting at a table with two of the club's barmaids, and stalked towards the three women with a smile. "Els, can I have a quick word, please?"

Nodding, the young woman followed her mother from the room, looking a little concerned as Hannah closed the office door firmly behind them. "What is it?" She asked quickly. "Is it something with the case?"

"No, love, it's..."

"What?"

"I spoke to Jo last night... She... She wants to have a baby." The older red-head replied with a slight frown. "She's got an appointment at a fertility clinic on Monday for some tests."

"Wow... Did she only tell you last night?"

"Yeah... I don't think she would have if I hadn't been panicking that there was something seriously wrong with her." Hannah confided in her daughter.

Ellie moved to sit beside her on the sofa, slipping her arm through Hannah's and squeezing her hand. "What did you say? How do you feel about the idea?"

"I threw a bit of a strop at first." The detective admitted. "But Jo really wants a baby... How can I deprive her of the chance to be a mother? I love her and I want her to be happy. But..."

"But you don't want another kid?"

"It's selfish, but no. I like things how they are. I mean, this baby would be Dylan's auntie or uncle. And what if when Jo has this baby it changes everything? It would be her flesh and blood, not like the rest of you."

Ellie sighed. "Don't be stupid, Mum. So what? The baby would share Jo's DNA and we don't, but do you seriously believe that she would love us any less?"

"I don't know."

"Well I do." Ellie replied firmly. "Mum puts up with a hell of a lot as part of this family and she's not going to abandon us because she shares genes with a new baby. If she wants a baby as much as you say she does then she deserves to have one and you have to support her. However unsure you are about it you need to hide that from Jo, because you know that she'll drop this idea if she thinks you're struggling with it. She will always put you before herself and that's not fair, Mum. She deserves to have a baby if that's what she wants."

"I know you're right." Hannah sighed and rested her head against her daughter's. "But I just think four is enough."

Ellie sighed. "For you, maybe, but Jo hasn't even had one. What's one more going to hurt? Besides, Max, Freya and I will be out of your hair before you know it and you'll be lost."

"So you think I should agree just because there'll be empty rooms in the house?"

The younger woman sighed, slightly frustrated by her mother's sarcasm. "No, of course not. You have to be committed to the idea, but don't use us as an excuse. Look… if you want more time to get used to this, why don't you suggest that Jo adopts the kids? Like legally? It's not like their dads would put up a fight, is it?"

"You're annoying when you make sense." Hannah muttered, rolling her eyes. She thought about what the girl had suggested, though, deciding that it was a good idea.

"You love me really." Ellie reminded her with a grin.

Hannah smiled. "Most of the time. Now off you pop, I've got to prepare myself to deal with Westlake and whatever he sorted out last night after I left."

Hannah waited for Westlake's appearance in the office, watching him approaching on the CCTV footage on the computer screen. She didn't look up as the office door opened and closed and neither did she raise her gaze from the papers spread out in front of her when Westlake moved to stand in front of the desk.

"Hannah, I need your opinion." He said after a couple of moments when she continued to ignore him. "Are you in a mood with me or something?"

Looking up at last, the woman arched an eyebrow. "Me? Annoyed with you? Whatever makes you think that? What reason would I possibly have for being annoyed with you?"

"Yeah, well, whatever." He shrugged, folding his arms. "Come on."

Exhaling sharply and climbing to her feet, the woman followed him from the office in irritation. She had a vague idea of what he wanted her opinion on and wasn't entirely sure that she was at all comfortable with it. But, the DI and Superintendent had ordered her to play along with Westlake and that was what she was doing. Striding along the corridor on her stilettos, Hannah did the button of her suit jacket up and straightened her skirt before they entered the main room. She didn't know why it was so important to her that she looked her best for this task, but it was. She thought maybe it was so that she could distinguish herself from these women; to set herself apart, as if her appearance was all she had. But then she shook her head slightly and dismissed that idea.

"Right, Han, I spoke to Genevieve last night. Genevieve Hillier; remember her?"

Hannah nodded. "Of course; we were close years ago. I haven't heard from her in a long time."

"Well she was running some girls off the Cockcroft Estate, but she's moving over to North London and pushed the girls in my direction."

Feeling slightly sick at the way he described the situation, the detective nodded wordlessly and followed him towards a booth containing half a dozen young women ranging from teenagers to a woman about her age. She smiled and shook the hand of each in turn, much to their mingled confusion and amusement.

"Well, I'll leave you ladies to get acquainted." Westlake said with a smirk, nodding at Hannah before squeezing her arm and walking away.

Feeling a little awkwardly, the red-head retrieved a stool from the edge of the room and settled herself at the end of the table. "So... I'm Hannah. What are your names?"

Each replied in turn; Jasmine, Cara, Jen, Emma, Tina and Fran. They gave Hannah a brief account of their histories, their tongues loosening as she signalled for the barmaid to bring drinks over for them. The detective recognised so many parts of their stories from so many stories she'd heard from women she'd come into contact with over the years. The only difference between their pasts and hers was that she'd managed to escape. It made her furious that people like Westlake were profiting from their misfortunes.

By the third round of drinks they were laughing and chatting like old friends. A clatter behind them and the sudden sound of voices suddenly drew Hannah's attention to the arrival of her colleagues through the front doors of the club.

Standing up, wobbling slightly on her stilettos, clutching at Tina for support and giggling along with the woman as she helped her regain her balance, Hannah turned to face them. She saw the questioning looks on the faces staring at her and the partly disapproving, partly concerned flicker that passed through Jo and Ellie's eyes at her lack of balance and the large wine glass in her hand. Moving towards the officers with far more poise than she had any right to, Hannah informed Westlake's latest employees that she'd only be a moment.

Gathering the women into a small huddle, she quickly informed them who the others were and what they were doing there. Grace frowned and looked over Hannah's shoulder at the women who were being served another round of drinks.

"What are you going to do?" Stevie asked, spotting how uncomfortable Hannah was with the situation.

She shrugged. "I haven't got much choice. I've been told to go along with Westlake's plans by the Guv and the Super. They want me to let him think he's in the driving seat from now on."

Jo frowned, looking closely at the women. Then she gasped. "I don't believe it. That's Jen Kilshaw."

"Who?"

"A case I worked on a couple of years back... she was fourteen at the time and her boyfriend was grooming her to be part of an underage prostitute network." The brunette told them, scowling at the memory.

"I remember that case..." Ellie muttered. "You got really protective of me and Freya for a while."

"I thought she'd be alright after that... I promised her that there would be people looking out for her. And yet she ended up here... doing this."

Hearing the bitter edge to Jo's voice, Hannah smiled weakly at her. "It's not your fault; you couldn't have done any more for her. Some people just… don't want help."

The brunette Sergeant didn't look convinced by her girlfriend's attempts to reassure her, but nodded and followed the others to the other end of the club while Hannah returned to the six newcomers. Although she knew she had to act normally, she couldn't bring herself to set them to work that night and informed them that they would start tomorrow.

Then, sending a smile in their direction and a meaningful glance towards her colleagues, she stalked back to the comparative safety of the office to hide for a while.


	21. Chapter 21

The next morning, Westlake wanted to know why Hannah had given the girls the night before off. She rolled her eyes and muttered something about building up a good relationship with them and gaining their trust, before heading out of the office for a cigarette. Leaning against the wall of the alley beside the club, she sighed deeply, rubbing her eyes wearily. Jo's concerns before the operation came back to her and she wondered whether she had been right. The operation felt like it was getting out of hand and Hannah pondered whether she had been trying too hard to prove to Max that she could handle things her way, leading to the many mistakes she'd made along the way.

"Han?"

The red-head jumped slightly, dropping her cigarette and swearing. Lighting another quickly, she turned to smile at Jo. "Hey, you alright?"

"Mmm..."

"What's wrong?" Hannah demanded, anxiously, her eyes flicking over her partner's face for a clue. "Is it the... you know... the baby thing?"

"That's a good sign if you're referring to it as 'the baby thing'." Jo replied sarcastically.

"I'm sorry. I just... It's going to take a while to get my head round it. I'm trying, babe, I really am. I came to the clinic with you, didn't I? But at the moment my mind is on other things."

"I understand that." Jo told her, slightly bitterly. Then she sighed. "But I wasn't thinking about that. It's Jen."

"What about her?"

"I feel like I've let her down." The brunette admitted, leaning against the wall beside her girlfriend. "I can't let her throw her life away like she is here. She's only sixteen. She could do so much better than this."

Hannah looked at her warily, wondering what was coming next. "And? What are you planning on doing about it?"

"I asked her if she wanted to move in with us."

"Wait…" Hannah frowned slightly as connections were made in her head. "Is this because you want to have a baby and I wasn't as enthusiastic about it as you hoped?"

Jo sighed. "Grow up, Hannah; not everything's about you. Look, I didn't spend all night in a car outside Jen's residential unit and rescue her from being trafficked just for her to end up on the streets."

"I understand that." The red-head replied quickly, desperately fighting back the urge to get annoyed at Jo's accusation that she was self-centred. "I remember how involved you got in that case; we barely saw you for a week. And I get why you want to get Jen out of this situation, but did you have to offer to let her stay at ours? There's already nine of us living there. There's no space."

"She won't be there for ever, Han, just until she sorts herself out. She's only sixteen; imagine if it was Ellie or Freya. Jen's younger than Max."

Hannah exhaled sharply, Jo's words hitting a chord. She didn't want her girlfriend to think she'd backed down too easily, though, so she kept the sulky pout on her face as she answered. "Alright, fine, she can stay. I dunno where she's gonna sleep, though."

"Well you and Ellie are living at the flat at the moment because of this case, so Jen can share with Freya." Jo suggested.

"Are you gonna tell them?" Hannah asked, raising an eyebrow at the conversation that would take place. She didn't imagine that her daughter would take too kindly to having someone else in her room or that her sister would appreciate sharing with a stranger.

"I will do." The brunette replied mildly. "Besides, I was thinking–"

"You wanna watch that. Don't wanna tire yourself out…"

Ignoring her girlfriend's mumbled comment, Jo continued. "When the Westlake case is finished, what d'you reckon to giving Ellie and Freya the flat?"

Hannah looked at her, furrowing her eyebrows and smiling in slight confusion. "What?"

"Well they're twenty, they're sensible and, as you said, we need the space. I think Ellie would love the chance to be independent; to prove she can look after herself and Dylan without our constant interference. It makes sense, Han."

Sighing, the younger woman pushed herself away from the wall and shrugged. She took a final drag of her cigarette and dropped it. For a moment she just looked at the ground and then she shrugged again and glanced up, meeting Jo's eyes.

"Fine, well, I can't think about this now." She told her girlfriend as mildly as she could. "I have to get back to the office. Just…" She sighed. "You do what you think is best and we'll sort it out later."

As Hannah strode away, she heard Jo's annoyed growl from behind her and knew that the conversation definitely wasn't over. She let out a long breath and closed her eyes for a moment, before pushing open the office door and going inside. Settling herself at the desk, she cast her eye over the paperwork lazily.

Something caught the detective's eye and she frowned, pulling one of the sheets of paper closer and reading it more carefully. Her mouth twitched into a smile and she hastily pulled out her mobile, fumbling with it as she dialled the Superintendent's number. Casting a furtive eye at the office door, she waited impatiently for the call to connect.

"Sir, it's Hannah." She whispered hurriedly, wary that Westlake might enter the office at any moment. "I've found something."

"Hang on…" There was a pause and then Hannah heard a click and a scraping noise. When Jack spoke again his voice was slightly distant and she guessed that he'd gathered the rest of the team and put her on speakerphone. "Go ahead."

"I've just found a printout of tickets booked in Westlake's name from Heathrow to Kuantan. That's in Malaysia, right?"

"Yeah, Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, one of the Malaysian states." Max's voice came through her mobile, condescending as always. Hannah rolled her eyes. "What's the date on them?"

"Wednesday night." She replied, checking the time on the paper quickly. "That means that the deal must be taking place before then… but why is Westlake flying off to Malaysia?"

"That's what you need to try and find out, Hannah." Jack ordered. "We need to know when this deal is happening and where."

"Yes, sir." The door of the office opened suddenly and the woman quickly changed the expression on her face, hiding the printed confirmation behind her. "Yes, darling, I will." She ignored the stifled sniggers from the other end of the line and sighed. "Oh, it's only Jo."

"Cheers for that." The brunette muttered, clearly still annoyed, dropping onto the sofa as Hannah pouted at her.

"Right, you concentrate on Westlake. We've got the others under surveillance." Max told her.

"But what about the–"

"Hannah! Just do as I've asked." Max snapped, before the line went dead.

Staring at the phone in disgust for a moment, Hannah slammed it down on the desk before she turned to Jo and sighed. She held up her hands in surrender. "I really can't deal with anymore arguments at the moment, love."

"I'm not here to argue." The older woman informed her. "I'm here to apologise."

"Apologise?"

"I shouldn't have just gone ahead and asked Jen to move in. It wasn't fair with everything you've got on your mind at the moment."

Exhaling deeply, Hannah shook her head. "No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I overreacted… about everything. I'm just… tired and stressed and I don't know what to do for the best. I would probably have done the same if I was you."

Jo chuckled. "I don't doubt you would."

"Look, Jo… can you try and find out what's going on with Freya?"

The brunette frowned slightly. "Are you still convinced she's hiding something?"

"Yes."

"But… what would she possibly be lying about?"

"I don't know. She's avoiding me." Hannah admitted. "That's why I want you to try and find out."

Jo sighed. "I'll do my best, but I'm not promising anything. It's probably Uni stuff or something to do with Alex."

Hannah nodded and returned the smile Jo was sending her. Glancing down at the paperwork again as the brunette Sergeant left the office, the red-head scowled at the papers. Glancing at the time, she realised that she had about half an hour before Westlake returned from his meeting with Pinter; half an hour to work out how she was going to find out the information they needed to plan the raid.


	22. Chapter 22

"Jared?" Hannah called as she heard the now-familiar footsteps crossing the floor of the clubroom behind her. Swivelling on the barstool, she slid off and crossed towards him, papers clutched in her hand. "Care to explain this?"

"What is it?"

"Confirmation of plane tickets to Malaysia. Planning on taking a little trip?"

Westlake frowned. "What's it to you?"

"I _thought_ we were partners around here?" She snapped in response. "Surely advising me that you'll be out of the country for a while would have been quite important if you're intending to leave me in charge of your business. That is if you trust me enough? Besides, I thought you were doing that deal with Pinter on Wednesday?"

Grasping her arm firmly, the man frogmarched the detective to their shared office, slamming the door closed and turning on her with fury blazing in his eyes. "Firstly, you do not go through my things."

"I can't help it if you leave them lying around on the desk." Hannah shot back.

"Secondly, the other ticket is in your name. You're coming with me."

"I am not!" She replied instantly, folding her arms.

Westlake laughed. "Oh, you are, unless you want me to make that phone call?" Hannah said nothing, clenching her jaw and reminding herself that the only place he was going was prison, so it didn't matter whether he thought she would go with him to Malaysia or not. At her silence, he smiled triumphantly and continued. "And thirdly, I'm meeting Pinter and Field at four and the flight isn't until nearly eleven."

Making a mental note of the time of the new deal, she shrugged. "Why are we going, anyway? You'll have your guns by then."

"Unless they decide to mess us around again." He pointed out. "Besides, I want to go straight to the source."

"You know the source? What are you planning on doing? Are you going to cut out the middle man? Pinter won't like that."

Westlake shrugged. "Who cares what Pinter likes and doesn't like?"

"Me if it means he might break my legs because you've upset him." Hannah snapped. "I get the impression that Pinter isn't used to not getting his own way."

"It'll be fine. Pinter knows that I'm in charge around here and you're just window-dressing." He told her, leering nastily. Hannah ignored the insult, and the fact that his eyes were wandering up and down her body, determined not to let him get to her. "Soon enough he'll realise that he can't mess me around and get away with it. The second the deal is done and we're away from that Estate then he'll realise that he can't take advantage of me."

"So the deal is still on the Dainol Estate?"

He agreed with a nod, tapping at his mobile. Then he glanced up sharply. "So all the girls are working tonight?"

Gritting her teeth, Hannah nodded. She hated it, but her orders had been to carry on as normal. "Yeah, your girls have been given free rein to work out of the club and my girls will be with their regulars."

"They're all your girls now." Westlake informed her.

Hannah glared at him, but didn't respond. "Well, is that everything? I've got somewhere to be."

Leaving the club quickly, the detective got into her car and just sat there. She took several deep breaths and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the headrest and exhaling sharply. She opened the window and lit a cigarette, staring blankly ahead of her. Absorbed in her own thoughts, the young woman didn't notice that the cigarette was burning itself out as she rested her hand through the open window. It was only when she heard the sound of heels on the ground beside the car that she glanced up.

"Hi?" Jen said gently, smiling weakly at the red-head as though she thought she was about to be shouted at. "Are you OK? Just you've been sat there for ages."

"Oh… yeah…" Hannah flicked the cigarette end away and turned to look at the girl. She wondered how much she knew about what was going on. "Look… Jo said she'd asked you to move in?"

The sixteen-year-old looked uncomfortable again. "Yeah… if it's a problem…?"

"No, we've talked about it and it's fine. Maybe we should go and get a coffee or something and talk properly?"

Nodding, Jen walked around the bonnet and got into the passenger side of Hannah's car. The detective glanced in her mirrors before pulling away from the curb and speeding up as they headed along the road. For a couple of moments they drove in complete silence, with neither seeming sure what to say to the other. Finally, as they drew to a halt at a set of traffic lights, Hannah sighed.

"So, I'm guessing you know that Jo and I are undercover."

"Yeah, she said something about that Westlake guy and guns."

Hannah nodded. "Yeah… I think it's possibly best if you don't come back to the club." She noticed the expression on Jen's face and chuckled softly, driving away as the lights changed. "Only because now you know what's going on it might put you in danger and I'm not willing to do that. Besides, if you're going to join our family then you're going back to school, so you might as well jack all this in now."

"School?" The teenager looked disgusted. "I'm sixteen. I've left school."

"After your GCSEs?" When she failed to reply, the detective smiled. "Didn't think so. Listen, Jen, if you're going to live in our house than you're going to have to be treated like one of the family and that means living by our rules."

Jen sighed. "Go on then, what rules?"

"You go back to school and do your GCSEs, at least." Hannah told her firmly. "Absolutely no drugs; _anyone_ who breaks that rule is out. And thirdly, we respect each other, right? If Jo or I ask you to do something, or not do something, there will be a reason. We talk about stuff, we make big decisions as a family and we help each other out. So no tantrums or lies, right?"

"What do I get out of this?"

Hannah looked sideways and arched an eyebrow. "You get a family and a proper home and people to look out for you, sweetheart. And you'll make Jo happy, which will make me happy and I won't be on your case. Think you can handle all that?"

"Yeah." The dark-haired teenager nodded. "Yeah, I think I can."

"Good; welcome to the family."

x-x

"Yesterday, Hannah discovered that the deal between Westlake and Pinter will be taking place at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon in Unit 2 on the Dainol Industrial Estate off Collins Road." Superintendent Meadows explained to the sea of faces in front of him in the briefing room. "Hannah?"

The red-head pulled herself to her feet and nodded, taking her place beside the man at the boards containing all the information about the case. "Right, Westlake is furious at what he sees as Pinter's attempt to screw him over. He told me that as soon as we leave that warehouse Pinter would realise that he couldn't mess him around."

"What's he planning?" Max asked, although he knew that was all Hannah had been told.

"No idea." She admitted, shrugging. "What I do know is that at quarter to eleven tonight Westlake has booked himself and me on a plane from Heathrow to Kuantan in Malaysia where he's planning on finding his own suppliers so that he can cut out the middle man. If we mess this up, we'll lose him."

Neil cleared his throat, pointing to the map of the Industrial Estate between him and Hannah. "So we'll stick to the original plan; Banksy and Grace and four uniform cars at this entrance, Stevie and Max with another four units over here. Terry and Mickey will be here and I'll cover this back road. Hannah will be in on the deal as Westlake's business partner and will be in contact with us using an earpiece. SCO19 will also be involved considering the targets and what we're dealing with. Everyone clear?"

As a muttered agreement ran around the room, the officers began to disperse. Hannah nodded to her superiors and escaped before they could catch her, waving a hand over her head and striding down the corridor as Max shouted after her. Ducking through a doorway and ignoring the Detective Sergeant's calls, Hannah glanced at the time and decided to go home before heading to meet Westlake at the club.

* * *

_**A/N: Thanks for reading, guys! :)**_

_**Thanks to **_**Anastasia Dove**_** and **_**GirlonaBridge**_** for your reviews! It means a lot! :D**_

_**x**_


	23. Chapter 23

"I'm home, kids!" Hannah shouted, closing the door with a bang. She laughed as Theo and Molly launched themselves at her. "Max? Freya? Jen?"

"Max has gone out and Jen's playing with Cait." Theo told her, dragging the detective by the hand into the kitchen. "We made cakes with Freya!"

The detective grinned, hoisting her five-year-old daughter onto her hip and leaning over slightly to look at the children's baking attempts. "Wow! They look lovely."

"When are you coming home properly, Mummy?" Molly asked.

"Tomorrow, hopefully, there're just a couple of things I need to sort out first."

As her mobile began to ring, she put Molly down carefully and turned away, listening to what was being said on the other end. After a couple of minutes, she nodded. "Yes, Guv."

"D'you have to go?" Theo asked with a sigh.

Hannah smiled weakly and ruffled his hair. "Yeah, sorry, baby."

Theo nodded and pulled Molly upstairs to play on their computer and their mother felt a pang of guilt that they were so accepting of her career. She felt bad that they had to put up with her disappearing on them all the time in the line of duty. Sighing, Hannah made her way into the living room where her sister was watching television and Jen was playing with her youngest daughter on the floor. Smiling at the chaos that had taken over her living room, the detective shook her head and reached down to squeeze Freya's arm.

"Alright, Han?" The young blonde asked, looking up quickly. She glanced at the two younger girls across the room and stood, pulling her sister back into the kitchen and closing the doors firmly. "I need to tell you something."

Hannah's heart sank. "What? What is it?"

"It's nothing bad, Han." Freya assured her. Her words did nothing to calm the red-head, who was imagining all sorts of scenarios in her head. "I've got a job."

"A job?" Hannah frowned wondering how that information linked to all the secrecy.

"I've got a job writing for a magazine."

Her sister smiled broadly, pulling the blonde into a tight hug. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah… the only thing is… it's in Paris."

"Paris? As in France?" Hannah tried to clarify, leaning heavily against the kitchen counter. "But… you've still got a year of Uni. You can't just go to Paris."

Freya sighed, as though she'd known her sister would react the way she was. "I can, Hans. I've transferred to Paris-Sorbonne University so that I can finish my degree and take the job. Its journalism school is really famous. It's an amazing opportunity."

"But… I don't understand why?"

"It just makes sense; I'm doing French and Journalism, so why not go and do Journalism in France? I've always wanted to live in Paris and then this job came up and the Uni helped me arrange the transfer… it's just too good an opportunity to turn down, Han." Freya tried to explain. Her sister sighed. "I'll miss you guys, obviously I will. But I'm going to be moving out soon anyway. I need to learn to cope without you always being there to sort out my problems for me. Besides, it'll make things easier around here; you'll have more space."

"More space?" Hannah raised an eyebrow. "If it's really what you want then I'm pleased for you, sweetheart. When are you going?"

"I've got a flight next Thursday."

"Next Thursday?" The red-head exhaled sharply. "That's soon, isn't it?"

"The semester starts on August fifteenth." Freya explained. "My job doesn't start until the end of the month, but I need to get settled in and start my course and stuff."

Hannah shook her head, pulling her sister into her arms and pressing a kiss to the top of the blonde's head. "You've got this all sorted out, haven't you? I always knew you were the sensible one around here, but sometimes you make it very difficult to remember that you're my baby sister."

"Yeah, well, you get to take all the credit for that."

"Whatever!" The detective laughed.

Freya pulled away and looked at her seriously. "No, Han, I mean it. And I know you're worried about Jen being here, but that girl needs you and Jo. She's a good kid; just a bit rough round the edges. But then what d'you expect considering the life she's had? If it wasn't for you it could be me or Ellie sitting where she is now."

"I know." Her sister admitted. Then she smiled and glanced at the clock. "I gotta go, but we'll talk more about your move later, alright?"

"Yeah, see you."

Poking her head around the living room door, Hannah smiled and waved at her daughter and Jen, before moving into the hall and shouting goodbye up the stairs. As she was pulling on her jacket, the living room door opened and Jen appeared.

"Hey, you alright, sweetheart?" Hannah asked, remembering Freya's words and deciding that she was right.

"Yeah… Hannah, can you give me a lift into town?"

Instantly the woman was suspicious; she couldn't help it. "Why?"

Jen narrowed her eyes at the reaction. "I just wanted to get a few things."

"What things?"

"I was gonna get you and Jo some flowers, if you must know, to say thank you for taking me in." The teenager snapped, scowling at the detective.

Hannah sighed, squeezing her eyes closed and mentally kicking herself for jumping to conclusions. "Sorry. I didn't mean… I'm just stressed about work and things. Course I'll give you a lift, but you really don't need to get me or Jo anything."

Jen nodded and grabbed her bag, but said nothing as Hannah told her sister that the teenager was going out. She slammed the car door and sat in resolute silence, making the detective sigh and try to think of something to say to break the tense atmosphere. Hannah attempted to make conversation as she drove, but Jen wasn't in the mood to talk.

"Is it alright if I drop you by the club?" Hannah asked as they neared Canley High Street. "The one-way system's a nightmare and I'm already running late to meet Westlake. It's only a two minute walk into town from his club."

"That's fine."

"Look, Jen, seriously… you living with us is… you don't need to thank us."

"Right, fine, good." The teenager shrugged, looking pointedly out of the window. Hannah wished that Jo was there to break the awkwardness between them.

The silence fell again as Hannah drew up in the small car park behind the club. She turned to Jen quickly and opened her mouth to make another attempt to smooth things over. Before she could speak, however, the back door of the car opened and Westlake slid in.

"Change of plans, Hannah." He said, ignoring the glare the woman sent him as she turned to fix him with a fierce expression. "Pinter's moved the deal forward an hour. We need to get going."

"Jared–"

"NOW!"

With a growl and an apologetic look at the teenager beside her, Hannah started the engine, passing Jen her mobile. "Give your Dad a ring and tell him you're going to be late."

"Eh?" The girl muttered, frowning.

"Who's that?" Westlake demanded, finally noticing the teenager sitting in the passenger seat.

"This is Neil's daughter." Hannah said meaningfully, glancing down at the phone in Jen's hands in the hopes that she would get the hint as to who the detective wanted her to phone. "Tell him there's been a change of plan and you won't be meeting him 'til later."

x-x

"Right, it's now… half past two. We've got an hour and a half before the deal is due to take place between Westlake and Pinter." Neil told the assembled officers in the second briefing of the day. He stared around at his colleagues.

Jack nodded beside him. "We cannot afford any mistakes, so is everyone completely sure what–"

He broke off as Neil's mobile started ringing and the DI glanced at the display with a frown, before showing it quickly to his superior. Holding up a hand to call for quiet, the man answered the call.

"Hannah?" His face contorted in confusion as he was answered by a voice he didn't recognise.

"Dad? It's Jen… there's been a change of plan."

Putting the call on speaker phone, Neil placed the mobile on the table and leant his palms against the surface. "What's happened?"

"The time of Hannah's meeting changed so she can't drop me off."

Jo leapt from her seat at the sound of the teenager's voice and moved to stand beside Neil. "Jen, it's Jo. Is Westlake there? Is Hannah OK?"

"Yeah... she's fine."

"Are you on the way to the deal now?"

"Mmm-hmm… I am."

"Is it in the same place?"

There was a slight pause. "I think so… She didn't say."

From the other end of the line, they heard the muffled sound of a man speaking, before Jen replied. "He just wanted to know whether Hannah would drop me off after. Well, where is this meeting? Maybe he could come and– no, no. Fine."

"He wouldn't tell you where it is?" Neil asked.

"Nope." Jen confirmed.

"Well I'm guessing that means the location is the same." The DI said, turning to the Superintendent. "Jen?" He looked to Jo, who nodded. "Jen, keep the phone on you, alright? And when they get there, stay in the car."

"What?"

"Jen, do as you're told." Jo warned, smirking slightly at the teenager's indignant tone.

"Alright, fine." There was another mumbled conversation from the other end of the line and then Jen hurriedly said goodbye. "Laters, Dad."

Glancing around, Jack took control. He ordered his officers to get ready and down to the Industrial Estate straight away. Striding through the corridors of the station with Neil on one side and Jo on the other, he grumbled about the fact that another civilian was getting involved. The brunette Sergeant rolled her eyes a little and did her best to assure him that Hannah would keep Jen as far away from the action as possible, earning herself a curt response in which Jack told her that he knew that.

Jo arched an eyebrow at Neil, before heading away to make sure that her Uniformed officers were prepared for the raid. Callum and Smithy met her in the Sergeants' office and they went over last minute details, before heading round to the yard to join the others.

* * *

_**A/N: Thanks so much for reading and thank you to **_**Anastasia Dove**_** and **_**GirlonaBridge**_** for your reviews. It really means a lot to know what you think!**_

_**On a slightly different note, while watching Let's Dance for Comic Relief last night, I remembered that Sally Rogers (Jo) and Chris Simmons (Mickey) were on it a couple of years ago, so I looked for it on YouTube. It was brilliant and so worth a look! Sally is fucking flawless! **_

_**You may have noticed that I have a teeny girl crush... :P**_

**_x_**


	24. Chapter 24

Hannah's car pulled into the Industrial Estate at quarter to three and she parked up round the back of Unit 2. Then the detective swivelled in her seat and fixed Westlake with a hard stare. She glanced quickly at Jen, her expression warning the teenager not to argue with her.

"Come on then, Jared. Let's get this over and done with."

"What about the kid?" He asked, evidently not having thought about what would happen when they arrived.

"She's staying here. I'll lock her in."

Westlake shook his head. "No way. She comes with us."

"I don't think so." Hannah told him firmly, lowering her voice to a hiss. "There is no way I'm taking her in there to meet with your… associate."

"Tough, because I'm not leaving her out here to tell someone what's going on."

"She wouldn't."

"Out."

With a reluctant sigh, Hannah nodded at Jen and both women emerged from the car. The teenager glanced at the detective who nodded again, smiling weakly and followed Westlake into the warehouse. They had to wait until almost half past three for Pinter and Field to arrive. Westlake paced around the space muttering about his associate playing games and informing the women that making them wait was just another way of gaining the upper hand. Hannah sighed and shook her head, trying her best to appear as though she was merely bored of the situation so that Jen wouldn't start panicking. Beside the detective, the teenager was nervously chewing her nails.

When, finally, the man they were waiting for appeared in the doorway, Hannah stood up. She motioned for Jen to stay seated on the crate behind her and took her place next to Westlake. Pinter glanced over her shoulder and narrowed his eyes.

"Who's the girl?"

"Hannah's step-daughter." Westlake supplied before the detective could reply. "She won't be any bother."

"I don't do deals in front of kids." Pinter informed him, folding his arms. "Get her out of here."

The detective was only too willing to comply. "Jen…" She held out her car keys and motioned towards the door. As the girl walked quickly towards her, Westlake stepped forwards and barred Jen's route, catching her by the arm. Hannah scowled at him, stepping closer and lowering her voice dangerously. "Get your hands off her."

"She's staying where I can see her."

"I mean it, Jared. If you don't let go of her right now–"

Westlake leant towards the woman so that he could hiss in her ear. "Pinter doesn't want her here so she stays. He's just trying to control the situation."

"I don't give a shit what he's trying to do." Hannah informed him angrily. "I'm telling you to leave her alone."

A couple of moments passed as the two stared at each other, refusing to back down. Jen looked between them nervously, her arm starting to hurt where Westlake's fingers were still digging into her.

"When you've quite finished with your domestic?" Pinter called lazily.

In the split second where Westlake's grip on Jen loosened at the sound of the other man's voice, Hannah yanked her away from him and pushed the teenager behind her out of the way. She made the split-second decision that Jen was staying where she could see her. As the men in front of them began discussing the deal, their voices rising in irritation, Hannah kept her eyes on them.

"Have you still got my mobile?" She hissed, never moving her gaze from the deal taking place. "Call Neil back and hide the phone behind you."

"What if they see it? Or hear something?" Jen whispered, moving closer to the detective.

Hannah reached behind her and squeezed the teenager's arm. "I'll worry about that."

"Did you say something?" Westlake demanded, turning quickly as though he was hoping to catch Hannah out.

She shrugged. "Jen was saying she was gonna be late to meet her Dad and wondering what she'd tell him, so I said I'd worry about that."

"I'm sure there's plenty I could tell him." The man smirked.

Frowning, the detective folded her arms and exhaled sharply. Pinter and Field were looking between them with mild amusement. It took a moment for Westlake to remember that he was in the middle of doing a deal with his associates. When the realisation hit him, he turned back to what he was doing, leaving the two females watching from behind. Hannah risked a glance behind her to make sure Jen was alright, receiving a weak smile from the teenager.

Resisting the urge to move closer, to see what was in the two large cases the men were bending over, the detective stayed back and wondered how long the deal was going to take. The DI and the Superintendent would both kill her for getting the teenager involved in the deal, not to mention Jo. But the way Hannah saw it, keeping Jen with her was safer than letting her go off on her own. It wasn't impossible that Pinter had left men outside on guard and she wasn't about to let Jen walk into the middle of them on her own.

After a couple of minutes, all three men straightened up, shaking hands. The cases were closed and swapped over and then Westlake, Pinter and Field all turned in Hannah and Jen's direction. The detective looked back at them challengingly. Pinter smiled and moved towards her, his hand outstretched.

"A pleasure to see you again, Ms Edwards." He said smoothly, his toothy grin not meeting his eyes. "And it was lovely to meet you, young lady."

As he held his hand out in Jen's direction, she panicked, fumbling with the mobile. There was a hollow clunk as the mobile slipped through her fingers and dropped to the ground.

For a moment no one even seemed to breathe. Then, at exactly the same moment, three guns were drawn and Hannah moved completely in front of Jen, blocking her from the men's view. She hoped that Neil had been listening when the phone had dropped and understood what it meant. There was also a good chance that he was still listening in.

"What are you doing?" Hannah demanded, keeping her voice level. "She's just a kid playing with a phone? Stop pointing guns at us."

"What was she doing? Who was she phoning?" Field demanded gruffly, scowling at the woman.

She shrugged. "I dunno; no one? Jen?"

"N-No one…" The teenager agreed from behind the detective, sounding absolutely terrified. She wrapped her hand around Hannah's wrist, clinging on tightly.

"See?" Moving her arm slightly so that she could hold Jen's hand, reassuring her that everything would be alright, Hannah raised an eyebrow. "For god's sake, Jared, I'm in this as deep as you. Now just put the guns down and stop messing around."

In response to her words, the man pulled the trigger.

x-x

"I thought Neil told her to stay in the car?" Jo muttered for about the fifth time, glancing sideways at Smithy from their position on the Industrial Estate. The officers were crammed out of sight behind large metal girders, although they had a clear view of the Unit and Hannah's parked car. "Either Jen ignored that or they haven't been given a choice."

"Yeah, well, she'll be alright with Han." Smithy replied distractedly, watching Pinter and Field draw up beside Hannah's car and make their way into the building. For a couple of moments there was silence as they watched and waited.

"Smithy? Jo?" Neil's voice came through their radios and the woman raised hers to her mouth.

"Go ahead, Guv."

"Seeing as the girl has gone in with them, we have even more reason to keep this under control." He said, needlessly. "I want you to get as close to the Unit as you can. See if you can hear or see what's going on, without them spotting you. SCO19 are moving in too."

"Guv." The Sergeant agreed, nodding to Smithy, who instantly passed on the order to the rest of the officers who were with them.

Jo barely allowed herself to look at Ellie, who was crouched between Leon and Mel. Together the officers made their way carefully towards the warehouse, keeping out of sight of the open doorway. They heard talking, although no words could be made out. Jo had to force herself to distance herself from the situation, telling herself over and over again that this was just any other operation.

"Smithy?" The brunette Sergeant jumped as her Inspector pulled his radio towards him and hissed a reply into it. "We've got an open line to Hannah's mobile, although it's just been dropped. It sounds like she's trying to talk them down. Hannah mentioned guns. Be ready to go in; SCO19 are on alert."

No sooner had the DI given the order to be ready than a gunshot rang out from inside the warehouse. At once there was shouting and chaos as the order was made to go in and the armed officers headed inside, shouting for the men to put down their weapons. The second they received the all-clear, Jo and the others were inside the building.

"Remember she needs to be arrested." Smithy reminded Jo quickly, sensing that she had forgotten their orders.

"If she's not…"

Smithy shook his head, not willing to consider what Jo had been thinking. "Hannah will be fine."


	25. Chapter 25

"Jen? Jen, are you alright?" Hannah demanded seconds after the gunshot rang out around her. There was no way Jen could have been hit, considering she was standing behind her, but the detective was still concerned. Armed officers had burst into the warehouse demanding that all weapons were put on the ground and, with the three men's attention elsewhere, the woman was free to check the teenager over carefully. "You're OK, sweetheart, you're fine."

Sobbing slightly, Jen threw herself into Hannah's arms. "They tried… they… I thought they shot you!"

"Me?" Hannah laughed weakly, hugging the girl to her tightly and stroking her hair in a soothing motion. "It'll take more than a bullet to take me down. I've been run over, stabbed, beaten up and now shot at; it's quite a list. Although I suppose I'm quite lucky that Westlake's a crap shot. A couple of inches to the right and I wouldn't have been laughing."

"How can you be so calm about it?" The teenager demanded. "You could have died! You saved my life!"

"Don't be so melodramatic! Anyway, I've almost died before, sweetheart." Glancing around and realising that Uniformed officers were heading in their direction, Hannah smiled at Jen. She pulled out of the hug and put her hands on either side of the girl's face. "Right… I'm gonna be arrested, now. Don't panic; it's just so that my cover is intact in case I need it in the future. You just stay with Ellie and she'll look after you, alright?"

"Hannah Edwards?" Turning, Hannah scowled at Smithy who was grinning at her, obviously loving the idea of what he was about to do. "I'm arresting you on suspicion of conspiracy to buy and supply illegally imported firearms. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you may later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?"

As he handcuffed her wrists together, she rolled her eyes. "No, don't have a clue what you're on about." He laughed and she smirked lightly. "Make sure Ellie keeps an eye on Jen, would you?"

"Course." He nodded his head towards the young red-headed PC who was making her way across the warehouse towards them. Ellie shot her mother a brief smile, before wrapping an arm around Jen's shoulder and pulling her away. "Right, let's get you back to the station and deal with the paperwork."

He led her away towards the waiting police cars, passing Westlake who was struggling against Leon and Roger. At the sight of the red-head being led away, looking completely calm, he narrowed his eyes and struggled even more. "Hannah! Oi! Is this you? Did you tip them off?"

"Don't be a twat, Jared. Why would I do that?" She snapped in response.

"Was it that kid, then?"

Hannah laughed mirthlessly. "Course not. She didn't have a clue."

"You better hope that's true!" He shouted as Hannah was pulled out of the warehouse and directed towards one of the area cars.

Smithy smiled at her reassuringly and she returned the look, telling him wordlessly that she was fine. He wasn't fooled, however, knowing her too well to believe that she wasn't shaken up by the events in the warehouse. Helping her into the back of one of the cars, he moved away for a moment to speak to the Superintendent. When the car door opened again, Hannah glanced up and smiled at the pale face of her girlfriend, leaning down and staring critically at her.

"Jen told me what happened."

"Yeah?"

"She's still shaking."

"She's not the only one." Hannah admitted, exhaling slowly and raising a hand to rub her eyes tiredly. "I feel like I could sleep for about a month."

"How do you get in these situations, sweetheart?" Jo sighed, sliding into the back of the car and pulling the younger woman into her arms. Hannah nuzzled her head into the crook of her girlfriend's neck and closed her eyes tightly. "Maybe you should take some time off and get your head sorted."

At once Hannah's eyes flicked open and she shook her head. "No. No… you know what I'm like when I'm left alone with my thoughts."

"The kids are on holiday, Han. It's not like you'll be sitting around doing nothing. I think it'll do you and them good to spend some time together."

"I think it would do you and me good to spend some time together." Hannah told her seriously. "The fact that you couldn't tell me you were going to a fertility clinic should be ringing warning bells in both our heads." She sighed at the guilty expression on Jo's face. "Have you thought more about legally adopting the kids?"

"Have you thought more about having a baby?"

Hannah nodded. "If it's what you really want, then yes. We'll do it."

"And I do want to adopt the kids, of course I do." They both smiled, feeling as though the two biggest things standing between them had vanished. Then Jo put a hand on the door handle. "I'd better let you get back to the station. The Guv's waiting for you for the debrief."

x-x

Jack reiterated Jo's suggestion that Hannah should take some time off, although he was much more forceful and refused to entertain any refusal on her part. She had a lot of holiday owed and he demanded that she took as much as she could. Seeing that she was slightly wary about his reasons, the Superintendent sighed and tried to convince her that he was just thinking of her welfare; physical and mental.

"I know I've made mistakes, some really big mistakes, on this op and I potentially put it in jeopardy, Guv, but–"

"Hannah, this has nothing to do with whatever mistakes you think you've made." He told her gruffly. "You were in a difficult situation and you dealt with everything that was thrown at you. You handled it as well as could be expected. Maybe with hindsight you could have done things differently, but it's done. We got the result we wanted. You have to draw a line under this case and tackle the next one the way you always do."

Scared that she was about to burst into tears at the sympathy in his tone and expression, Hannah just nodded. "Thanks, Guv."

"You're a bloody good copper, Hannah. Don't let anything distract you from that." He told her.

"Thanks, Guv." She repeated.

He smiled. "Right, off you go then. I don't want to see you for the next month. And when you come back I expect you to have moved on and put this behind you."

He showed her out of his office, giving her a curt nod and watching as she headed away down the corridor and down the stairs. Hannah sighed as she leant on the reception desk for a quick chat with Kirsty, before leaving the station as instructed. She couldn't imagine not returning over the next month, although there was no doubt in the detective's mind that it would be good for her. Jo had already suggested that they all went on holiday to visit Freya in Paris and the children were coming up with all sorts of plans to occupy them over the summer.

Hannah smiled, as she saw her daughter and Jen leaning against the car waiting for her, Ellie chatting on her mobile and the teenager fiddling with hers, presumably texting someone. Both glanced up at the sound of her heels tapping on the concrete and grinned, standing up straight and opening their doors as she unlocked the vehicle and slipped into the driver's seat.

Glancing in the mirror at the station one more time as she indicated onto the main road, the redhead found that she was looking forward to her extended holiday.

* * *

_**A/N: Two updates in one day?! What is the world coming to?!**_

_**Thank you for reading this! Special thank you's to **_**Anastasia Dove**_**, **_**GirlonaBridge**_** and **_**DrBangelWho**_** for your reviews!**_

_**The fourth and final fic is going to be called **_**Regrets**_** and I'll be uploading it soon, so keep an eye out! :D**_

_**x**_


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